can piggies eat eggplant SKIN and SEEDS?

[webjetter]

I've read here on the forum that eggplant is okay in moderation (once or twice per week). But I couldn't find anything specifically about what part of the eggplant to feed them. Can they eat the skin? The seeds?

I gave my girls a small amount of just the eggplant flesh this afternoon and they loved it.

[Piggersrule]

My girls love eggplant, I cut it up with the skin on. The seeds are small, soft and edible. Eggplant does have some Vit. C but is a bit high on the Potassium and Calcium so feed in mderately 1-2x per week. I have been feeding eggplant for a while now and all my girls fine from it. I don't feed the leafy green tops though, I'm not sure if it is safe.

[webjetter]

Thanks for the help! I just found nutrition info for eggplant if anyone would like it:

100 gram serving

Vitamin C -- 2.2 mg
Calcium -- 9 mg
Phosphorus -- 25 mg
Oxalic acid -- 190 mg
Sugar -- 2.3 g
Vitamin A -- 8.1 mcg
Vitamin K -- 3.5 mcg

Looks like the sugar content is pretty good and it's low in Calcium, but the Ca:Ph ratio is poor and it's pretty high in oxalates. So it's a Feed In Moderation veggie.

[Piggersrule]

I read that eggplant was high in calcium. Where did you find that info?

[Ly&Pigs]

I looked eggplant up on the USDA website where I get all my nutrient info from and it does say 9mg calcium per 100 gram serving size. The ratio of calcium : phosphorus is bad though. And the oxalic acid content is kind of high.

The only thing I noticed that is different is the USDA site lists the Vitamin A, RAE(mcg) as 1 not 8.1.

This is something you'd want to only feed once or maybe twice per week, but no more than that.

[webjetter]

Originally Posted by Piggersrule

I read that eggplant was high in calcium. Where did you find that info?

I got the data from nutritiondata.com under "eggpant, raw". Their serving size is 82 g so I had to do math to come up with the figures for 100 g so I could compare it with the nutrition chart on this forum that I have printed out. I multiplied all nutritiondata.com figures by 1.22 to arrive at the nutrients in a 100 gram serving.

For Vitamin A, I went by the total but I see now that it breaks it down further into Retinol Activity Equivalent (RAE) .8 mcg which makes it .98 mcg for a 100 g serving. Some databases such as cooks.com and others show Vitamin A, RE as 8 mcg too ... So, Ly&Pigs, should I be going by the RAE amount and not the RE amount? This forum's nutrition chart doesn't specify which figure is used.

As an important side note, eggplant leaves are toxic and should never be eaten.

[Ly&Pigs]

So, Ly&Pigs, should I be going by the RAE amount and not the RE amount?

Yes, that is what the charts are based on. The RAE amounts.

On the nutrientsdata.com site, at the top under the name of the food, there is a dropdown box that you can use to change the serving size. It lists 100gram portion sizes. Thought I'd let you know in case you didn't already know.