Eggplant

Eggplant is a berry, and a nightshade, in the same family as tomato, potato and pepper. The name “eggplant” was first used for white varieties that look like hen’s eggs. The word “aubergine” travelled from Sanskrit through Persian and Arabic into Spanish and French.

Its purple skin holds nasunin, a delphinidin-type pigment that has been isolated from the peel and studied in the lab. Our nutrition data (USDA) lists about 86 mg of delphinidin per 100 g. That makes eggplant one of only 10 foods in our database with a measured value.

Rats absorbed purified nasunin intact in one study. But the work on nasunin is lab and animal science, and no human trial of it turned up in our search.

Eggplant flesh is spongy, and it soaks up oil. In a lab test, peeled 1 cm cubes were deep-fried for 10 minutes at 180 °C in avocado oil. They ended up about 38% oil by weight, from almost none when raw.

Cut flesh also browns fast. An enzyme (polyphenol oxidase) oxidizes phenolic compounds such as chlorogenic acid once the cells are broken.

Health benefits of eggplant

• ★Lower blood pressure, from capsules and pillsEggplant powder capsules lowered blood pressure by week 12 in 100 stressed adults with normal-high or mildly high pressure. Separately, 5 pooled trials of chlorogenic acid pills (a compound in eggplant) lowered the top number by about 4 points (4.31 mm Hg systolic).
• ★No clear effect on cholesterolAn eggplant infusion did no better than placebo over 5 weeks in 38 people with high cholesterol. Eggplant extract with orange juice did not change it either; a statin did.
• ★Lower LDL from one purple pigment typeAcross 18 trials, products rich in delphinidin, a purple pigment, lowered LDL cholesterol. Eggplant skin has a delphinidin type, but eggplant itself was not tested.
• Population studyLinked to lower colorectal cancer oddsIn a Chinese hospital study, people who ate more eggplant had under half the odds (0.42) of colorectal cancer than matched people without cancer. Diet was reported after diagnosis.
• Population studyNo link to liver cancerIn 72,680 Chinese women followed over time, eggplant was not linked to liver cancer.

Who should be careful with eggplant

Most people can eat eggplant freely. Take a little care if one of these applies:

• Allergy or latex allergy. In a survey of 741 people in Mysore, India, 9.2% reported reactions to eggplant. But IgE-mediated (true immune) allergy was estimated at about 0.8%. The authors suggested histamine and other non-protein compounds may explain many reactions. A case report described eggplant anaphylaxis in a person with latex allergy.
• Nightshade worries. Some people avoid nightshades because of gut symptoms. A 2023 review called the evidence limited. It raised glycoalkaloids as a possible trigger in IBD and IBS (inflammatory and irritable bowel conditions), without proving it. The nicotine in edible nightshades, aubergines included, is tiny: 2 to 7 µg per kilogram of fresh fruit.
• Irritable bowel syndrome. Monash University lists eggplant as low in FODMAPs at one standard serve of 75 g, so small portions are less likely to cause symptoms.

How to choose, store and eat eggplant

• Fried: eggplant soaks up oil. Peeled 1 cm cubes fried 10 minutes at 180 °C ended up about 38% oil by weight. In an Iranian lab study, 7 minutes of pre-cooking in hot water cut oil uptake by 72%.
• Baked, grilled or boiled: these need little or no added oil. In lab tests they lowered the hydroxycinnamic acids by 60%, 51% and 27%, while frying raised them by 74%. Whether that matters for health is unknown.
• Skin on: the skin is edible, and it is where nasunin sits, so peeling removes the compound that the lab studies are about.

Pick eggplants with shiny, smooth skin, a green stem and a heavy feel for their size. Smaller ones tend to taste less bitter. Keep them in the refrigerator and cut them just before cooking, because the flesh browns quickly.

Residues are no reason to skip eggplant: in USDA tests of 703 samples in 2021, 3 had a residue above the legal limit. The samples were rinsed under cold running water first.

History of eggplant

Nobody agrees exactly where eggplant began. It grows wild in South Asia and was cultivated across southern and eastern Asia long before written records.

A 2012 study of genes and history found at least two separate domestications, one in India and one in southern China or Southeast Asia. It noted that China’s written record of eggplant is about 2,000 years old. The earliest known mention is a Chinese text from 59 BCE, the “Slave’s Contract” by Wang Bao.

The word travelled a long way. A Dravidian word became the Sanskrit vatingana. It was understood as the class of foods that remove “wind disorder”, because eggplant was thought to cure flatulence.

Persian borrowed it as badingan, Arabic as badhinjan, and from Arabic it reached Spanish as alberenjena and French as aubergine. English speakers in India say brinjal, which came by way of Portuguese.

Eggplant entered Europe through Muslim Iberia. Ancient Greek and Roman sources have no name for it. The many Arabic and North African names suggest Arabs grew it around the Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages. It reached Spain by the 8th century.

A 12th-century farming book from Muslim Spain described how to grow it. A 13th-century Andalusian cookbook uses it as the main ingredient in fifteen of its nineteen vegetable dishes. In most of the rest of Europe it stayed obscure until the 17th century.

Europe also feared it. Through folk etymology, the Italian melanzana became mela insana, “mad apple”. By the 13th century a tradition said eggplants could cause insanity.

English used “mad-apple” from 1578, and a 1597 botany book called it the “madde or raging Apple”. Medieval Iranian physicians such as al-Razi and al-Biruni also warned that eggplant had harmful qualities unless it was ripe and cooked.

The English word “eggplant” was first recorded in 1763 for the white, egg-shaped types, which are still called garden eggs. Today most of the world’s crop comes from Asia. In 2023 production was 61 million tonnes, with China and India together making up 85% of it, according to Wikipedia.

Frequently asked questions about eggplant

Is eggplant good for you?

For most people, yes, though the evidence for specific benefits is thin. Raw eggplant has 25 kcal and 3 g of fiber per 100 g. It also has 22% of the Daily Value (the amount on US food labels) for molybdenum. Only three trials tested it in people: one found lower blood pressure from powder capsules, and two found no clear cholesterol effect.

Most of the interest in nasunin in the skin rests on lab studies.

Is eggplant a fruit or a vegetable?

Botanically it is a fruit, specifically a berry, but cooks treat it as a vegetable. It grows on a plant in the nightshade family, like the tomato, another botanical fruit that is used as a vegetable.

Does eggplant lower cholesterol?

Not in the human trials so far. An infusion for 5 weeks did not beat placebo in 38 people with high cholesterol. An extract with orange juice did not change cholesterol in 21 adults, while a statin did. In mice, an eggplant extract did not lower cholesterol either.

Is eggplant a nightshade, and does it contain nicotine?

Yes to both, but the nicotine is tiny: 2 to 7 µg per kilogram of fresh fruit in edible nightshades including aubergines. A 2023 review found limited evidence that nightshades worsen gut disease. There is no strong reason to avoid eggplant unless it bothers you.

Can you eat eggplant raw, with the skin and seeds?

Yes, the skin and seeds are edible, but raw eggplant can taste bitter and astringent, so it is usually cooked. The leaves and flowers can be poisonous in large amounts because of solanine. Smaller eggplants tend to taste less bitter, and leaving the skin on keeps the nasunin, which is found in the peel.

Does eggplant absorb a lot of oil?

Yes: in a lab test, peeled 1 cm cubes were deep-fried for 10 minutes at 180 °C. They ended up about 38% oil by weight, up from almost none. In another lab study, 7 minutes of hot-water pre-cooking cut the oil uptake by 72%. Baked or grilled eggplant has only the oil you add.

Is eggplant low in carbs?

Fairly low. Raw eggplant has 5.9 g of carbohydrate, including 3 g of fiber, so about 2.9 g of net carbs per 100 g. A cup (82 g) has about 21 calories.

No human trial found here tested eggplant on blood sugar. In the lab, its phenolic extracts blocked a sugar-digesting enzyme, which is a first step, not proof. Fried eggplant is a different food because of the oil.

Is eggplant low FODMAP?

Yes in a small portion: Monash University lists eggplant as low in FODMAPs at one standard serve of 75 g. No trial here measured gas or bloating directly. If eggplant bothers you, try a smaller serving.