When a patient is to undergo major or minor surgery, doctors generally require the patient to fast for 12 hours before the surgery and to abstain from water for 4 hours before the surgery. Recently, medical researchers at the University of Chicago in the United States have discovered that patients must also avoid eating potatoes, eggplants, and tomatoes for one week before surgery.
A substance called SGAS has been found in these three vegetables. This substance inhibits the body's enzymes from breaking down anesthetics. Scientists combined trace amounts of SGAS with the enzymes in the human body responsible for breaking down anesthetics and found that the enzymes consequently lost their ability to break down the anesthetics.
Scientists say that if a patient has eaten potatoes, eggplants, or tomatoes before surgery, the SGAS substance will remain in their body. This could prevent the anesthetics administered by the doctor from being broken down normally, thereby prolonging the patient's recovery time and affecting the speed of their recovery.