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A plate full of penne arrabbiata, a chicken cheeseburger, beefsteak with mushroom sauce, a traditional cake slice; menus of your fav restaurants are loaded with dishes like these! To shorten it, food makes life worth living. Though they can end your life too, and no, we’re not talking about just choking or overeating. There are a lot of food items in the world that can be a threat to your health. Containing one or other form of toxins, certain items put you in great trouble. Here are five food items that you must be careful of while consuming.
Cassava
A chilled glass of bubble tea can set you up for an entire day. The perfect flavours and chewy tapioca balls make the drink heavenly and luscious. But do you know that the same tapioca balls can be fatal for you? These are made of starch from Cassava roots which contains multiple forms of cyanogenic glycosides. These glycosides release hydrogen cyanide upon an enzymatic breakdown in the digestive system, which is extremely toxic. If prepared incorrectly or eaten raw, these Cassava roots can cause paralysis, intoxication and death.
Apple
Seeds
As much as an apple pie waters your mouth, apple seeds can put you to death. We’ve even seen that in a movie; a woman grinds a bowl full of apple seeds, mixes the powder in someone’s protein shake to kill them! It’s no joke. Apple Seeds have an outer layer that digestive enzymes cannot break. However, if you chew them, amygdalin will be released in your body, converting into cyanide, a deadly poison enough to kill you. And not just apples, but a lot of other fruit seeds are poisonous in the same way.
Fugu
Cyanide is one of the deadliest poisons in the world, but do you know that there is a fish that is 200 times more poisonous than cyanide! Even a slight amount can be immensely toxic to someone consuming it. Fugu is a Japanese delicacy, a fish that needs to be prepared cautiously as some of its organs are highly poisonous. Ovaries are the most poisonous parts of it, while the liver and intestines are also lethal. Even the government has restricted normal chefs to cook it, and only specially trained and licensed individuals can prepare the fish.
Kidney
and Lima Beans
Who can imagine that beans contain poison in them! It’s an ingredient we use in salads and different recipes without knowing about the toxic elements in it. Red kidney beans contain Phytohaemagglutinin, a type of lectin, which kills your stomach cells, and Lima beans literally contain cyanide in them. Both of them need to be soaked and boiled before cooking to get rid of the toxins in them.
Ackee
Ackee is a plant that produces fruits that are used in
multiple dishes. It is considered a dietary staple in Jamaica and is found in
many other parts of the world, including Central America, West Africa, Southern
Florida, and The Caribbean. It is imperative to eat it fully ripe, and if
someone consumes the unripe form of it, it can cause severe poisoning in them
and even death. Moreover, the US has banned the importation of ackee fruit
because of the poisoning cases. The toxic effects of the fruit are caused by
hypoglycins A and B, which lead to clinical symptoms and death.
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