# Did "New World" foods cause any widespread GI issues after global distribution? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322 "2020-05-23T01:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/41 "2020-05-24T01:10:18Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > My daughter has trouble with yogurt. Maybe it’s not old-fashioned enough? And I’d been claiming butter was low in lactose until a lactose intolerant friend said she couldn’t eat it. I looked up the numbers and they were higher than I would have expected. Several possibilities. Some people are so extremely sensitive that they can’t tolerate any lactose. Some American yogurts add additional milk products after fermentation to create a sweeter result. Some people think they are being affected by the lactose when they really have a different problem, like IBS. Some people may possibly be intolerant to milk fat, which has never been proven but also never ruled out. I’m not sure what you mean by butter having higher lactose numbers than you expected. Butter is normally less than 1% lactose. And you would normally never have more than a small amount of butter in any serving. It’s hard to imagine having more than a fraction of a gram of lactose from butter in any dish. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/42 "2020-05-24T02:49:11Z")
My daughter has no problem with butter, but she does with yogurt. I’ve bought lactose-free yogurt for her, which she likes. I forget the details of the other person. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/43 "2020-05-24T02:54:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > From [here:](https://theconversation.com/moving-to-another-country-could-mess-with-your-gut-bacteria-106095) > > [Wikipedia:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_gastrointestinal_microbiota#Geography) Having intestinal stress when you shift from eating mostly plants to mostly animals, or from low fat to high fat seems normal. That’s completely different from having intestinal distress from eating a different species of plant or animal than you are used to. If you start eating tomatoes instead of apricot and melon, say, or if you eat llama instead of cow and sheep. As I mentioned above, anecdotally. I try to eat new plants and animals when I travel. I’ve tried a lot of new foods that way. I rarely get traveler’s tummy, (only once) and I’m pretty sure it’s not associated with eating novel foods. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/44 "2020-05-24T03:10:30Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > …As I mentioned above, anecdotally. I try to eat new plants and animals when I travel. I’ve tried a lot of new foods that way. I rarely get traveler’s tummy, (only once) and I’m pretty sure it’s not associated with eating novel foods. Right, same here and most people that I’ve encountered from around the world are the same way. But was it the same a few centuries ago? This is why I asked if there is a historical record of any widespread issues, and if we’ve evolved as a species to not have such issues any more. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/45 "2020-05-24T03:51:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Everyone has a different mix of gut bacteria. If you introduce something new to your diet, your flora and fauna may have a hard time adapting. This is one of the causes of traveler’s diarrhea. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/46 "2020-05-24T04:04:18Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Cite please. So you are saying Indian food is not considered Ethnic aka non-white food ? > Cite please. > > After US, India is the largest producer of milk. [Milk - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk#Production_worldwide) That they have 3 times our population isn’t surprising, and that chart also said that they produce almost as much buffalo milk as they do cow’s milk. Mare’s milk is also a popular item in central Asia (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and parts of Russia) and is often made into a fermented product called koumiss, which I understand is an acquired taste. Several years ago, there was a You Tube video that went viral of two young Mongolian women, in Western clothing, milking a horse, and when they’re finished, the colt came by to nurse. I can’t find it now, but there are quite a few videos of people doing this (and “milking” stallions as well!). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/47 "2020-05-24T04:41:23Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > But was it the same a few centuries ago? This is why I asked if there is a historical record of any widespread issues, and if we’ve evolved as a species to not have such issues any more. I worked on a Smithsonian exhibition for the Columbus Quincentenary in 1992 called “Seeds of Change” on the plants and animals exchanged between the Old and New Worlds after Columbus’s voyages, and did very extensive reading on the subject. I have never heard of any such issues. But there were never any such issues in the first place; we haven’t “evolved” so we don’t have them any more. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/48 "2020-05-24T12:37:23Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This is one of the causes of traveler’s diarrhea. If the"something new" is bacteria. A tomato isn’t going to do it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/49 "2020-05-24T14:00:53Z")
Yeah, evolution works very slowly. If we’ve evolved since 500 years ago it’s that people who are most susceptible to some diseases had a few fewer descendants. We haven’t evolved to digest tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![ArtBeforeScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@ArtBeforeScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArtBeforeScience)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/50 "2020-05-25T21:00:35Z")
I don’t know about foods but apparently chocolate caused huge scandals. I’m not sure I can find the cite in 2 minutes. From Eduardo Galeano’s 3-volume Memory of Fire, the early Spanish colonists in the Americas were crazed for hot chocolate even during church services. The ladies especially. Had me clutchin my pearls. Wait! here it is: > [@](#): > > 1628: Chiapas > Chocolate and the Bishop > > …Until recently, the ladies of this city would go to Mass with a retinue of pages and maids who, in addition to carrying the velvet hassock, brought along a brazier, boiler, and cup to prepare chocolate. Having delicate stomachs, the ladies couldn’t endure the ordeal of a prayer service without the hot elixir, still less a High Mass. So it was, until Bishop Bernardo de Salazar decided to ban the custom because of all the confusion and hubbub it caused it in the church. > > The ladies took revenge. One morning the bishop turned up dead in his office. At his feet, broken in pieces, the cup of chocolate that someone had served him. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/51 "2020-05-25T22:36:33Z")
> [@ArtBeforeScience](#): > > I don’t know about foods but apparently chocolate caused huge scandals. I’m not sure I can find the cite in 2 minutes. From Eduardo Galeano’s 3-volume Memory of Fire, the early Spanish colonists in the Americas were crazed for hot chocolate even during church services. The ladies especially. Had me clutchin my pearls. Wait! here it is: I’ve always suspected that some ladies would commit murder for their chocolate. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/52 "2020-05-26T00:27:35Z")
I am not sure if allergies count as GI issue but people have peanut allergies. Also you can get allergies from the latex in raw papaya, if you are not careful. But at the same time papaya enzymes are good for digestion. ---
**Author:** ![EdelweissPirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EdelweissPirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdelweissPirate)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/53 "2020-05-26T06:19:45Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yeah, evolution works very slowly. If we’ve evolved since 500 years ago it’s that people who are most susceptible to some diseases had a few fewer descendants. We haven’t evolved to digest tomatoes. Wait…what? I sincerely think I’m missing something. Are you saying that people of European descent have trouble digesting tomatoes? That would directly contradict what I understood you to be saying upthread. Was I just whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/54 "2020-05-26T16:29:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > One New World crop that often needs special preparation is [cassava](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava), aka manioc or tapioca. The root comes in “sweet” and bitter varieties, with the latter containing potentially toxic levels of cyanide-producing compounds and requiring special preparation in order to be safe to eat. However, the roots are equally toxic to anyone, and Old World peoples were not especially susceptible to them. Spanish colonists sometimes complained that cassava bread gave them digestive problems, but this could have been due to poor preparation or other issues. Today the crop is used widely throughout the tropics, including Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Manioc needs to be extensively processed to remove all the cyanide. However boiling it removes the bad taste and enough cyanide that it is can be eaten safely in the short term. The problem is that over time eating unprocessed manioc can lead to chronic cyanide poisoning. Thus manioc eaters in the new world eat it processed and have no ill health but manioc eaters in the old world, mainly Africa, have serious health problems. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/55 "2020-05-26T17:12:59Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Anything green, other than the green tomato fruit. So… stems and leaves. [Maybe not.](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29curi.html) > [@](#): > > But there’s scant evidence for tomato toxicity in the medical and veterinary literature. I found just one medical case, an undocumented reference to children having been made sick by tomato-leaf tea, in a 1974 book on poisonous plants. In contrast to the few anecdotal accounts of livestock poisoning, a controlled study in Israel in 1996 showed no ill effects when cattle ate tomato vines for 42 days. > [@](#): > > And it’s a chemical gaffe to attribute tomato toxicity to solanine. Dr. Mendel Friedman of the federal Department of Agriculture, who has studied potato and tomato alkaloids for two decades, wrote in an e-mail message that commercial tomatoes contain tomatine. Solanine, he added, is a potato alkaloid. > > There are significant quantities of tomatine in green tomato fruits, which people have long eaten fried and pickled. And tomatine appears to be a relatively benign alkaloid. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/56 "2020-05-26T17:14:39Z")
[People did notice something new about corn.](https://i.imgflip.com/12h0jb.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/57 "2020-05-26T18:25:16Z")
For what it’s worth, Samuel Pepys writes about having a terrible hangover on the day after Charles II’s coronation and going out with a friend “to drink our morning draught, which he did give me in chocolate to settle my stomach.” It’s not quite clear from Pepys’s syntax whether he’s drinking chocolate _as_ his morning drink, instead of a boozier alternative, or mixing the chocolate _with_ the booze (which doesn’t sound altogether stomach-settling!) But at any rate, he and his buddy both seem to take it for granted that chocolate helps with an upset stomach, and I don’t think they would have gotten this idea if chocolate had caused obvious GI issues in the first few Europeans who tried it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/58 "2020-05-26T19:07:39Z")
All the “exotic” hot drinks—chocolate, coffee, tea—were perceived for quite a while in 17th- and 18th-c. Europe as being fundamentally medicinal. Yes, a “morning draught” might combine chocolate and sack, or dry white wine. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/59 "2020-05-26T19:47:52Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > All of it except the tomatoes themselves. Same with all the nightshade foods – eggplant, potato, okra. Okra is not a nightshade. It’s related to hibiscus, and isn’t even in the same clade as nightshade plants. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/60 "2020-05-26T21:11:05Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Manioc needs to be extensively processed to remove all the cyanide. However boiling it removes the bad taste and enough cyanide that it is can be eaten safely in the short term. The problem is that over time eating unprocessed manioc can lead to chronic cyanide poisoning. Thus manioc eaters in the new world eat it processed and have no ill health but manioc eaters in the old world, mainly Africa, have serious health problems. I’m not sure where you’re getting this from. As I said, there’s a big difference between sweet and bitter varieties of cassava/manioc. Sweet cassava doesn’t need to be “processed” beyond boiling, baking, or frying. I eat it frequently here in Panama (where it’s called yuca) prepared in this way, and it’s a staple part of the diet. I haven’t heard of it being a health problem despite the lack of processing. In Brazil and the Caribbean cassava is more commonly processed into meal or flour, in which the toxins are removed by soaking or fermentation. You make it sound as if Africans don’t process cassava, which is certainly incorrect. It’s processed in many different ways. I’ve had cassava in West Africa as fufu and in other forms. Now there may be some places where cassava is sometimes not processed correctly, causing health problems, but this is not really an Old World/New World distinction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322.md?page=4)