Top 10 Toxic Foods We Love To Eat
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Publicado: 21 de octubre de 2012
Top 10 Toxic Foods We Love To Eat
When eating, we generally find food that we think tastes great. Others like to focus on how healthy a certain food is before eating it. In any case, food is essential to all of our being. It is speculated that the body can only last two weeks without eating before it starts to break down due to lack of nutrients. Of course this number changes, depending onbody mass, weight, etc.
However, have you ever stopped to think, while shoving a nice red ripe apple into your mouth, that you may be eating something poisonous? Many don’t know it, but a lot of the common day foods that we eat are toxic! Here is a list of ten toxic and poisonous foods us humans just can’t say no to.
10. Cassava
Though not too widely used in the United States, cassava is a woodyshrub that is generally found in the Caribbean and South America. When using cassava, it can either be made to be sweet or bitter. The taste, as well as the smell, all depends on the amount of cyanogenic glucosides, which are in fact, extremely poisonous. Most who prepare it like it to be bitter, as it keeps away insects and even animals. If cassava is prepared incorrectly, it can be deadly.Cassava poisoning, due to high levels of cyanide, is known as Konzo. Cassava poisoning leads to irreversible paralysis.
Interesting fact: Cassava roots are ground into a flour-like substance which is then used to make tapioca. Cassava leaves contain cyanide but if pounded into a paste with flour and left in the shade for 5 hours, the cyanide is broken down.
9. Pufferfish
Pufferfish stand to bethe second most poisonous vertebrate in the world. Though you won’t find pufferfish in the U.S., many in Korea as well as Japan find some parts of the fish to be delicacies. However, certain organs of the fish, such as the liver, as extremely toxic, and can be deadly. The poison in the fish, known as tetrodotoxin, can cause numbness, high blood pressure, and muscle paralysis, which is what leads todeath as the diaphragm muscles become paralyzed, disabling breathing. Known as fugu when eaten as a meal, many in Asian countries refuse to not eat the fish.
Interesting fact: Pufferfish has been made illegal to be eaten by the Emperor of Japan.
8. Mushrooms
There are about 5000 types of mushrooms known in the U.S. and about 100 of them are said to be toxic, while less than a dozen aredeadly. In any case, mushrooms can cause gastrointestinal discomfort. Since mushrooms are fungi and the fact that there are so many species, it can be hard to know which are poisonous. As rule of thumb, it is usually said that any mushroom found in the wild are more than likely poisonous. One of the deadliest types of mushroom toxins is Alpha-amanitin, which causes extreme liver damage. Toadstools,as they are called, are the poisonous mushrooms.
Interesting fact: There are 38,000 known kinds of mushrooms; about 5% of these are toxic.
7. Cashews
Though really seeds and not nuts, cashews grow inside of a shell-like structure that grows on a fruit. When buying “raw cashews” in the store, take note that these nuts have actually been steamed and are not entirely raw. This is because rawcashews contain urushiol, which is the same chemical that you’d find in poison ivy. It can cause the body to have a very similar reaction to one experienced from poison oak or ivy. If a high level of urushiol is ingested, it can be deadly. Cashew poisoning is rare, but those who handle them in order to manufacture them to get the shell off sometimes experience the side-effects.
Interesting fact:Cashews come from a fruit, which in South American countries, is eaten, and the seeds (cashews) are then thrown away.
6. Chilies
You’ve probably eaten a chili or two in your life. No matter if it was an extremely hot one, or one that was pretty mild, every chili you have ever consumed has contained a chemical called capsaicin. In chilies, capsaicin is what makes them spicy and “hot.” Of course...
When eating, we generally find food that we think tastes great. Others like to focus on how healthy a certain food is before eating it. In any case, food is essential to all of our being. It is speculated that the body can only last two weeks without eating before it starts to break down due to lack of nutrients. Of course this number changes, depending onbody mass, weight, etc.
However, have you ever stopped to think, while shoving a nice red ripe apple into your mouth, that you may be eating something poisonous? Many don’t know it, but a lot of the common day foods that we eat are toxic! Here is a list of ten toxic and poisonous foods us humans just can’t say no to.
10. Cassava
Though not too widely used in the United States, cassava is a woodyshrub that is generally found in the Caribbean and South America. When using cassava, it can either be made to be sweet or bitter. The taste, as well as the smell, all depends on the amount of cyanogenic glucosides, which are in fact, extremely poisonous. Most who prepare it like it to be bitter, as it keeps away insects and even animals. If cassava is prepared incorrectly, it can be deadly.Cassava poisoning, due to high levels of cyanide, is known as Konzo. Cassava poisoning leads to irreversible paralysis.
Interesting fact: Cassava roots are ground into a flour-like substance which is then used to make tapioca. Cassava leaves contain cyanide but if pounded into a paste with flour and left in the shade for 5 hours, the cyanide is broken down.
9. Pufferfish
Pufferfish stand to bethe second most poisonous vertebrate in the world. Though you won’t find pufferfish in the U.S., many in Korea as well as Japan find some parts of the fish to be delicacies. However, certain organs of the fish, such as the liver, as extremely toxic, and can be deadly. The poison in the fish, known as tetrodotoxin, can cause numbness, high blood pressure, and muscle paralysis, which is what leads todeath as the diaphragm muscles become paralyzed, disabling breathing. Known as fugu when eaten as a meal, many in Asian countries refuse to not eat the fish.
Interesting fact: Pufferfish has been made illegal to be eaten by the Emperor of Japan.
8. Mushrooms
There are about 5000 types of mushrooms known in the U.S. and about 100 of them are said to be toxic, while less than a dozen aredeadly. In any case, mushrooms can cause gastrointestinal discomfort. Since mushrooms are fungi and the fact that there are so many species, it can be hard to know which are poisonous. As rule of thumb, it is usually said that any mushroom found in the wild are more than likely poisonous. One of the deadliest types of mushroom toxins is Alpha-amanitin, which causes extreme liver damage. Toadstools,as they are called, are the poisonous mushrooms.
Interesting fact: There are 38,000 known kinds of mushrooms; about 5% of these are toxic.
7. Cashews
Though really seeds and not nuts, cashews grow inside of a shell-like structure that grows on a fruit. When buying “raw cashews” in the store, take note that these nuts have actually been steamed and are not entirely raw. This is because rawcashews contain urushiol, which is the same chemical that you’d find in poison ivy. It can cause the body to have a very similar reaction to one experienced from poison oak or ivy. If a high level of urushiol is ingested, it can be deadly. Cashew poisoning is rare, but those who handle them in order to manufacture them to get the shell off sometimes experience the side-effects.
Interesting fact:Cashews come from a fruit, which in South American countries, is eaten, and the seeds (cashews) are then thrown away.
6. Chilies
You’ve probably eaten a chili or two in your life. No matter if it was an extremely hot one, or one that was pretty mild, every chili you have ever consumed has contained a chemical called capsaicin. In chilies, capsaicin is what makes them spicy and “hot.” Of course...
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