I came across this thought I would share it. For anyone having upcoming
surgery.
Health News for October 20, 1998
Certain foods may affect anesthesia
NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) — Eating common foods — including potatoes,
tomatoes or eggplant — several days before surgery may alter how your body will
react to anesthesia, according to researchers from the University of Chicago Medical
Center.
“Our results bring us one step closer to understanding why patients vary so widely in
their sensitivity to certain anesthetic drugs,” said Dr. Jonathan Moss, professor of
anesthesia and critical care at the University of Chicago, Illinois, and director of the
study. “We now suspect that much of the variability may be due to diet.”
Anesthesiologists decide how much and what type of anesthetic to give patients based
on age, weight and height, and liver and kidney function. “But those are only part of
the picture,” said Moss. “We need to fill in the rest, including genetic, and now, dietary
factors. Only then can we predetermine the best dose of drugs to prevent pain and
anxiety during an operation but leave the patient awake and alert soon afterwards.”
The researchers found that ingesting even small amounts of natural substances found in
potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants can markedly delay the ability to metabolize
common anesthetic drugs.
These foods contain compounds called solanaceous glycoalkaloids (SGAs), which act
as natural insecticides and protect plants from attack by animals, insects, or fungi.
But SGAs can also interfere with anesthesia by inhibiting two important enzymes found
in humans, butyrylcholinesterase and acetylcholinesterase. “When these two enzymes
are inactivated, the body cannot break down and get rid of certain commonly used
anesthetics and muscle relaxants, so they continue to act long after they should have
worn off,” according to a statement issued by the American Society of
Anesthesiologists.
Researchers found that blood levels of SGAs typical after eating moderate amounts of
ordinary potatoes days before can significantly block these two human enzymes in lab
studies. They presented the results of their study Tuesday at the annual meeting of the
American Society of Anesthesiologists, held in Orlando.
It is not practical to test patients for SGA levels prior to surgery, said Moss. But
pharmaceutical researchers designing new drugs “should begin to look for systems that
don’t rely on (these enzymes) to regulate drug metabolism,” he added.
SOURCE: None Specified
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