the carotenoids may turn your palms, the soles of your feet, and even some of your other
skin yellow orange. The color change is harmless and will disappear as soon as you cut back
your consumption of these vegetables.
Latex-fruit syndrome. Latex is a milky fluid obtained from the rubber tree and used to make
medical and surgical products such as condoms and protective latex gloves, as well as rub-
ber bands, balloons, and toys; elastic used in clothing; pacifiers and baby-bottle nipples;
chewing gum; and various adhesives. Some of the proteins in latex are allergenic, known
to cause reactions ranging from mild to potentially life-threatening. Some of the proteins
found naturally in latex also occur naturally in foods from plants such as avocados, bananas,
chestnuts, kiwi fruit, tomatoes, and food and diet sodas sweetened with aspartame. Persons
sensitive to these foods are likely to be sensitive to latex as well. NOTE: The National Insti-
tute of Health Sciences, in Japan, also lists the following foods as suspect: Almonds, apples,
apricots, bamboo shoots, bell peppers, buckwheat, cantaloupe, carrots, celery, cherries,
chestnuts, coconut, figs, grapefruit, lettuce, loquat, mangoes, mushrooms, mustard, nectar-
ines, oranges, passion fruit, papaya, peaches, peanuts, peppermint, pineapples, potatoes,
soybeans, strawberries, walnuts, and watermelon.
Food/Drug Interactions
False-positive test for carcenoid tumors. Carcenoid tumors, which may arise in tissues of the
endocrine or gastrointestinal system, secrete serotonin, a natural chemical that makes blood
vessels expand or contract. Because serotonin is excreted in urine, these tumors are diag-
nosed by measuring the levels of serotonin by products in the urine. Tomatoes contain large
amounts of serotonin; eating them in the three days before a test for an endocrine tumor
might produce a false-positive result, suggesting that you have the tumor when in fact you
do not. (Other foods high in serotonin are avocados, bananas, eggplant, pineapple, plums,
and walnuts.)
Tomatoes