10 foods that can be dangerous to humans

1. Unripe potatoes

If you try to peel an unripe or, on the contrary, a stale potato, you will find that it is greenish in some places. In these places, the tuber contains solanine, a plant alkaloid that is toxic to humans.

It is mainly concentrated in berries. potatoes (therefore, they cannot be eaten), but in other parts of the plant it is enough. An increased level of solanine can be indicated not only by the green color of the tuber, but also by its bitter taste.

Poisoning with this substance causesSolanine poisoning / British Medical Journal vomiting, diarrhea and itching. In order to get sick, it is enough to eat a few green tubers. Death, paralysis, fever, and sometimes hallucinations from solanine poisoning is also possible, but practice is problematic: for this you have to consume several kilograms of poorly peeled green potatoes.

On the contrary, it is not difficult to protect yourself. Do not eat potatoes cooked with the skins

1. J. A. Maga, T. J. Fitzpatrick. Potato glycoalkaloids / CRC Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
2. T. T. Mensingaad A. J. A. M. Sips. Potato glycoalkaloids and adverse effects in humans: an ascending dose study / Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, since solanine is concentrated in the upper layer of the tuber. And trim off any green areas before cooking the vegetable. If the tuber is green in its entirety, it is better to discard it.

2. Sannakchi

If you travel to South Korea, be careful with the local cuisine. For example, with a very specific dish called "sannakchi". It is alive octopus or its tentacles, still wiggling, cut off shortly before serving. All this goodness is sprinkled with sesame seeds and poured with sesame oil.

Octopuses have a very complex nervous system, and two-thirds of all neurons in their body are locatedB. Hochner. An Embodied View of Octopus Neurobiology / Cell precisely in the limbs. Because of this, the severed tentacles will consider themselves alive for some time and continue to perform their natural duties - for example, crawl on a plate on their own.

Great care should be taken when eating such a delicacy.

After all, the tentacle is unlikely to like being eaten. And it can try to get out of the esophagus on its own. In addition, fighting to the last, it is able to attach to the throat with its suction cups. And the eater will die from suffocation. South Korea has already had 1. Here's why eating a live octopus can be deadly / Insider
2. 광주서 산낙지 먹다 기도막힌 사고 잇따라 several such cases.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that when eating sannakchi, they traditionally also drink. And if a person choked octopus, drunken companions are often lost and are unable to help him.

3. Cashew

In general, cashews are not a bad thing, unless, of course, you are allergic. This nut brings a lot benefits body and has a well-deserved popularity among adherents of healthy eating.

But when you add to a salad or just nibble on cashews from the supermarket, you are not eating them raw at all. Before getting to your table, nuts are processed 1. Cashew / Britannica
2. J. A. Duke. Anacardium occidentale / Handbook of Energy Crops: they are cleaned with special peeling machines and calcined.

This is important because the cashew shells are coated with resins that contain toxic cashew acid. The inhabitants of West Africa, for example, poison termites with it.

If you try to pick yourself a dozen nuts straight from a tree (suddenly find yourself somewhere in Portugal or, what good, plant cashews in your country house), then you will earn significant skin irritation, accompanied by a strong pain itching and a rash. It is unlikely that one can die from this, but the sensations will be terrible.

Roasting removes caustic cashew gums, so store-bought nuts are safe.

4. Oysters

Bivalve clams are considered a delicacy in many countries of the Indo-Pacific region, but this food should be treated with caution. Oysters can serve as carriers of various diseases and parasitesand also contain harmful compounds - for example, mercury.

The thing is that these creatures feed on skipping 1. I. Potasman, A. Paz, M. Odeh. Infectious Outbreaks Associated with Bivalve Shellfish Consumption: A Worldwide Perspective / Clinical Infectious Diseases
2. S. R. Rippey. Infectious diseases associated with molluscan shellfish consumption / Clinical Microbiology Reviews Journal through the water. And if there are any dangerous substances or microbes in it, they will accumulate in the body of the mollusk.

As a result, he will reward the eater not only with easily digestible protein and iodine, but also some kind of pathogen.

If oysters are collected in dirty water, they can transmit diseases such as hepatitis A, E, dysentery and typhoid fever. For example, in Shanghai in 1988, the traditional love of the so-called bloody clams ledCity getting tougher on blood clam ban / Shanghai Daily to the terrible epidemic of hepatitis A, which affected more than 300,000 people. 31 of them died.

People continued to get sick by consuming these bivalves until 2013, when the Shanghai authorities imposed a ban on fishing. However, bloody clams are still eaten unofficially. CalculatedBlood Clams: Worth a Second Look / The New York Timesthat about 15% of bivalve lovers manage to pick up some kind of disease from them.

5. Cassava

It is a tropical root vegetable from South America that is also grown in Africa and South-East Asia. Cassava and its products are distributed all over the world. Eating them is completely safe, unless you try the plant raw.

The fact is that it contains the toxin linamarinResearchers Get To The Root Of Cassava’s Cyanide ‑ producing Abilities / Ohio State University, which, when broken down in the body, releases cyanide. And to die, it is enough to eat about 400 g of unprocessed cassava. By itself, the root vegetable is quite bitter, but, despite this, it is undoubtedly eaten.

To remove the toxin, the tubers are boiled, soaked, or fermented.

But due to inaccurate processing of cassava in undeveloped countries, people regularly die, and the product is especially dangerous for children. So if you go to a place where it is grown - for example, Thailand, do not try to taste this plant raw.

6. Unripe black elderberry

Basically, black elderberry is a good berry. It is used in folk medicine. There is evidence that elderberry may relieve symptoms flubut its real benefitElderberry / National Center for Complementary and lntegrative Health not proven. Also, jelly, preserves and marmalades are made from it, tinctures and wine are made on it, added to syrups, brandy and tea for taste.

But it should be borne in mind that elderberry has moderate toxicity. Unripe berries that contain the substance are dangerousC. Campaa. Ph. Schmitt ‑ Kopplin. Analysis of cyanogenic glycosides by micellar capillary electrophoresis / Journal of Chromatography B: Biomedical Sciences and Applications under the name "cyanogenic glycoside sambunigrin". Only a few of these fruits can cause colic and indigestion.

7. Apricot kernels

By themselves apricots tasty and healthy, but the white nucleoli in their bones contain a substance called "amygdalin". And when it splits, it releases cyanide. As a result, the use of apricot kernels can potentially lead to severe poisoning and even death.

Alternative medicine advertises amygdalin as a cancer drug. Therefore, some supporters of "folk methods" are convinced that eating the contents of apricot kernels is very useful simply for prevention.

However, research 1. Laetrile treatment for cancer / Cochrane database of systematic reviews
2. B. N. Akyildiz, S. Kurtoğlu, M. Kondolot, A. Tunç. Cyanide poisoning caused by ingestion of apricot seeds / Annals of Tropical Paediatrics show that amygdalin and its derivatives are not drugs for anything. But on the other hand, if you eat too many seeds, you can get nausea, fever, headache, insomnia, joint and muscle pain and a drop in blood pressure.

Not recommendedApricot Kernels (Bitter and Sweet) / Food Safety Authority of Ireland eating more than two apricot kernels a day due to the risk of poisoning. And children cannot be given them at all.

8. Fugu

The puffer fish, or pufferfish of the takifugu genus (from Japanese - "river pig"), enjoys a well-deserved notoriety around the world. It contains the deadly tetrodotoxin in internal organs. It is especially abundant in the liver and ovaries, less in the skin and testes. Because of this, only properly trained and licensed chefs are allowed to prepare fugu.

But even under this condition, as a rule, several people per year die from a Japanese delicacy.

Antidote for tetrodotoxin 1. Y. Van de Peer. Tetraodon genome confirms Takifugu findings: most fish are ancient polyploids / Genome Biology
2. Tetrodotoxin: Biotoxin / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3. Le fugu, un mets a haut risque / Le Monde no. It paralyzes the muscles, and the victim, while fully conscious, dies painfully from suffocation. The only thing that doctors can do is try to maintain the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, hoping that the patient will survive until the action poison will pass.

Curiously, the fugu themselves are not poisonous. Tetrodotoxin is initially produced by marine bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas. Then they enter the bodies of various marine organisms - for example, molluscs. Cunning fish eat them and accumulate the toxin in the body. It does not work on them - they are used to it.

9. Red beans

Legumes are a good source of protein and fiber. But be careful with red beans. The fact is that it contains a lot of phytohemagglutinin, and this substance is toxic.

It is enough to eat more than five raw beans, and you can get poisonedBad Bug Book (Second Edition) / Food and Drug Administrationaccompanied by severe vomiting and diarrhea. In addition, the useFoods That Can Cause Food Poisoning / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eating this legume without careful heat treatment can lead to contamination salmonella, Listeria and Escherichia coli.

The precautions are pretty simple: You need to cook the red beans for 30 minutes at 100 ° C. This will lead to the destruction of phytohemagglutinin. Keep in mind: Slow cooking at lower temperatures does not completely destroy the toxin.

10. Aki

Aki, or delicious bligia, is a national the fruit Jamaica. There it is eaten both raw and cooked together with salted fish - pollock or hake.

However, it should be borne in mind that the fruits of aki are poisonous until they open. Until fully ripe, they contain a substance called hypoglycine. After the fruit bursts, the amount of toxin in them drops, so that the yellowish pulp can be safely eaten. But the bones are always poisonous.

Just one unripe aki fruit 1. A. Sinmisolaa, B. M. Oluwasesanbc, A. P. Chukwuemekaa. Blighia sapida K.D. Koenig: A review on its phytochemistry, pharmacological and nutritional properties / Journal of Ethnopharmacology
2. Acute ackee fruit intoxication / Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center causes the most powerful nausea in those who poisoned it, which the locals call "Jamaican vomiting." Hypoglycine provokes a rapid depletion of glucose stores in the cells of the body, which leads to consequences such as dehydration, convulsions, coma and death. And mortality from eating immature aki in the Caribbean and West Africa is quite high.