The tobacco plant synthesizes nicotine in its roots and then stores it in its leaves. Nicotine constitutes 0.3% to 0.5% of the tobacco plant’s dry weight. Tobacco plants belong to the nightshade family of plants along with eggplants, potatoes and tomatoes.
Nicotine production is not confined to nightshade plants only, examples of non-nightshade nicotine-containing plants include cauliflower, celery and papaya plants although these produce very low levels of nicotine compared to the tobacco plant.
Eggplant contains one of the highest concentrations of nicotine: 100 nanograms, or 0.1 micrograms (parts per million), of nicotine per gram of eggplant while tobacco leaves contain 20,000 to 40,000 parts per million of nicotine.
Safe for pregnant women when used under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner.