Botox Injections from Potatoes, Is It Possible?
Naweko San-Joyz
December 27, 2007
If I have a wish, it is that one day; I can grow all my anti-aging skin care products in my backyard. That day ensues, I fantasize, thanks to potatoes.
Just researchers stumbled upon the wrinkle damping effect of Botox after using it to treat uncontrollable blinking and crossed eyes, potatoes will likewise enjoy accidental fame as a youth inoculate.
Botulinum Toxin Type A, or Botox, is a protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Physicians inject a sterile, purified botulinum toxin, in small doses to wrinkle causing muscles. This injection blocks the release of the chemical acetylcholine that would otherwise trigger the muscle to contract.
Similarly, potatoes can block the effects of acetylcholine. That is because tubers contain naturally occurring steroids called “solanacesous glycolalkaloids” or “SGAs” for the tongue fatigued. These steroids can stop the manufacturing of the wrinkle-mothering neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.
But what are you going to do to get a syringe of Botox-mimicking potato juice? Thanks to the efforts of a few researchers from Oregon, we now know that we can extract the wrinkle numbing steroid SGA from red-fleshed potatoes.
But just because potatoes are natural does not make them safe for potential use in skin care products. Consuming too much SGAs can cause cholinergic syndrome in humans. This is condition is similar to what happens with intoxicating mushrooms- your mental states changes, your muscles go weak and you salivate a lot.
Perhaps some day, I can soak a potatoes a solution of baking soda and water, since it has the optimal steroid extracting pH of about 8, and then load a syringe with my Botox de potato. Then maybe, I’ll just inject myself with Botox, skipping the whole $175 per treatment area doctor’s office visit every four months.
Sources:
FDA Talk Papers. FDA Approves Botox to Treat Frown Lines. April 15, 2002. Accessed December 24, 2007, http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2002/ANS01147.html
Krasowski MD; DS McGehee and J Moss. Natural inhibitors of cholinesterases: implications for adverse drug reactions. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia; 1997, vol 44, pp 525-534.
Rodriguez-Saona, L E; R E Wrolstad and C Pereira. Glycoalkaloid Content and Anthocyanin Stability to Alkaline Treatment of Red-Fleshed Potato Extracts. Journal of Food Science; 1999. vol 64, no 3, pp 445–450.
Just researchers stumbled upon the wrinkle damping effect of Botox after using it to treat uncontrollable blinking and crossed eyes, potatoes will likewise enjoy accidental fame as a youth inoculate.
Botulinum Toxin Type A, or Botox, is a protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Physicians inject a sterile, purified botulinum toxin, in small doses to wrinkle causing muscles. This injection blocks the release of the chemical acetylcholine that would otherwise trigger the muscle to contract.
Similarly, potatoes can block the effects of acetylcholine. That is because tubers contain naturally occurring steroids called “solanacesous glycolalkaloids” or “SGAs” for the tongue fatigued. These steroids can stop the manufacturing of the wrinkle-mothering neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.
But what are you going to do to get a syringe of Botox-mimicking potato juice? Thanks to the efforts of a few researchers from Oregon, we now know that we can extract the wrinkle numbing steroid SGA from red-fleshed potatoes.
But just because potatoes are natural does not make them safe for potential use in skin care products. Consuming too much SGAs can cause cholinergic syndrome in humans. This is condition is similar to what happens with intoxicating mushrooms- your mental states changes, your muscles go weak and you salivate a lot.
Perhaps some day, I can soak a potatoes a solution of baking soda and water, since it has the optimal steroid extracting pH of about 8, and then load a syringe with my Botox de potato. Then maybe, I’ll just inject myself with Botox, skipping the whole $175 per treatment area doctor’s office visit every four months.
Sources:
FDA Talk Papers. FDA Approves Botox to Treat Frown Lines. April 15, 2002. Accessed December 24, 2007, http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2002/ANS01147.html
Krasowski MD; DS McGehee and J Moss. Natural inhibitors of cholinesterases: implications for adverse drug reactions. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia; 1997, vol 44, pp 525-534.
Rodriguez-Saona, L E; R E Wrolstad and C Pereira. Glycoalkaloid Content and Anthocyanin Stability to Alkaline Treatment of Red-Fleshed Potato Extracts. Journal of Food Science; 1999. vol 64, no 3, pp 445–450.
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