Food For thought Lettuce

[The-Piranha]

Food for thought… The Great lettuce debate!

Some people and pet stores selling animals say lettuce is a great food for reps as it contains trace amounts of calcium and people use it as part of their staple diet and yet others say no don’t feed lettuce it contains laudanum. That is actually a myth it is actually lactucin and I feel bar its 90 odd% water content has little to no food value at all. So I went looking at lettuce just so i could know what is what and if asked have the right info. to give out to someone...

after doing a search online the Uk gardening site I visited said

Edible lettuce does contain a chemical called lactucin which is a component of lactucarian. Lactucarian is the milky fluid found in some species of lettuce and occurs in much larger amounts in wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa.

So I went looking for this chemical, I am no chemist but wanted to find out more and if it is found in some or all lettuce even if it’s in trace amounts then I would want to know what I am giving my animals to eat.

Wiki defines lactucin as

a bitter substance that forms a white crystalline solid and belongs to the group of sesquiterpene lactones. It is found in some varieties of lettuce and is an ingredient of lactucarium. It has been shown to have analgesic and sedative properties.

To me something that has analgesic properties sounds ok for use in small doses but at the same time a sedative sounds bad less your animal is climbing the walls and swinging off the chandeliers. Yet as I don’t want my animals to be drugged and have to come with a do not operate machinery notice. But the wiki reference also says to see lactucoicrin which says

Lactucopicrin (Intybin) is a bitter substance that has a sedative and analgesic effect, acting on the central nervous system. It is a sesquiterpene lactone, and is a component of lactucarium, derived from the plant Lactuca virosa (wild lettuce), as well as being found in some related plants such as Cichorium intybus. As well as their traditional use as sedatives and analgesics, these plants have also been used as antimalarials, and both lactucin and lactucopicrin have demonstrated antimalarial effects in vitro. Lactucopicrin has also been shown to act as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor.

I also checked out a herb site who said

Lettuce Opium Consisting of the dried milky juice or latex of several species of lettuce, it is collected from the stem of the plant which is cut off at the time of flowering. The source most commonly utilized is the so-called wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa L., but garden lettuce, L. sativa L., as well as the related species L. serriola L. and L. sagittata Waldst. & Kit., all members of the family Asteraceae, also yield the product. Lettuce opium is also known by the Latin title, lactucarium.

I then went back and looked up Lactucarium at wiki

Lactucarium is the milky fluid secreted by several species of lettuce, especially Lactuca virosa, usually from the base of the stems. Lactucarium is known as lettuce opium because of its sedative and analgesic properties. It has been reported to promote a mild sensation of euphoria, but Lactuca virosa is poisonous, and at least one fatality has occurred during an attempt to use it for intoxication. Because it is a latex, Lactucarium physically resembles opium, in that it is excreted as a white fluid and can be reduced to a thick smokable solid.

Lower down the herb sites page is a heading CONSTITUENTS who to me had for me a telling paragraph being

An extensive pharmacological study of lettuce opium published in 1940 showed that the fresh milky juice contained two bitter principles, lactucin and lactucopicrin, which had definite depressant or sedative effects on the central nervous system in small animals. However, these compounds were found to be quite unstable, and commercial lactucarium had little, if any, activity.”

No doubt the lettuce debate will rage on for time to come, some will, some wont. Personally, I have always stayed away from feeding reps in general lettuce as I have always considered it suspect and of little value. This plus with all the controversy regarding lettuce I would rather feed my animals something that is a certainty than a maybe. Lastly if the statement is true in regards to the sedative effects on the central nervous system in small animals do I really want my berdie a depressed druggie playing an extra in a disney styled remake of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. Ok I could see lettuce having maybe a medicinal quality under certain circumstances but for a general food group in small animals my personal view would be stay away but you make your own minds up!

Ref sites I went to:-
http://www.dried-vegetables.co.uk/lettuce.php
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lettuce_opium.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactucin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactucopicrin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactucarium

 

[Claudiusx]

So I went looking at lettuce just so i could know what is what and if asked have the right info. to give out to someone...

First I would like to show my respect for you actually wanting to know your info before you give out advice, its becoming more and mroe common for people to give advice without actually knowing what they are talking about, and therefore, possible harmful advice.

Lastly if the statement is true in regards to the sedative effects on the central nervous system in small animals do I really want my berdie a depressed druggie playing an extra in a disney styled remake of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. Ok I could see lettuce having maybe a medicinal quality under certain circumstances but for a general food group in small animals my personal view would be stay away but you make your own minds up!

It would be really hard to tell if the sedative was in a dose strong enough to affect a beardie. Since it is mainly in the stem (which I will assume has the majority of that at the hard base on the bottom of lettuce), and letuce leaves are what is mainly fed, It would seem that the amounts of Lactucarium would either not be there or would be in such a small amount that it wouldn't be a problem.

But, your right with letuce having little nutritional value. I see it as, save up your beardies belly room for a leaf that will pack in the nutrients and vitamins etc. Lettuce, is just a stomach filler and nothing else. (im my opinion of course.)

P.S. I do believe lettuce has trace amounts of calcium in it the calcium to size ratio of the lettuce would mean that a beardie would have to eat quite a bit of lettuce to get a good amount of calcium.

-Brandon