Experimental Induction of Foetal Malformation with “Blighted” Potato: a Preliminary Report

Abstract

SEVERAL reports have linked anencephaly and spina bifida with a dietary factor related to the consumption of potatoes. Recently Renwick¹ has examined epidemiological data on anencephaly and spina bifida and postulates a link between the incidence of these neural dysplasias and the consumption of winter-stored “blighted” potatoes. He cites Leck and Record (unpublished results), who suggested that potatoes might become teratogenic as they aged, and Martin (unpublished results), who postulated that a fungus responsible for potato wart disease could be a factor in the aetiology of anencephaly and spina bifida, as there is a similarity of distributions of this disease in potatoes and neural tube defects in man. A similar association between the incidence of neural tube dysplasias and blight is thought to exist in Mexico². There have been no previous reports of a suspected teratogenic action from solanine, a human toxin^3,4 found in stored potatoes, although animal feeding experiments have been carried out on pregnant rats⁵. No gross abnormalities of the offspring were described.