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5 foods that can kill you

From an “innocent” potato with sprouts, a few more grams of nutmeg or a few peach seeds could take you from vomiting and dizziness to hallucinations, seizures, rapid heartbeat and even death.

Peach and apricot seeds

Amygdalin is a substance found in fruit kernels of Prunus species – such as plums, cherries, peaches, and apricots – that produces hydrogen cyanide after ingestion. When ingested in sufficient quantities, they cause cyanide poisoning.

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) notes that the lethal dose is 0.5 to 3.5 mg per kilogram of body weight. Eating more than three small raw apricots, or less than half a large grain, may exceed safe levels.

The fruit is not affected

The normal consumption of peaches does not pose a risk to the health of consumers. The grain is the seed inside the bone. It is obtained by opening and removing the peel from the stone and, therefore, does not have contact with the fruit.

Potatoes with sprouts

Potatoes with sprouts increase their production of solanine and chaconine, chemicals that can poison and cause death in cases of acute toxicity.

Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, burning throat, headaches, and dizziness.

Eating sprouted potatoes during pregnancy can also increase the risk of birth defects in the baby, some studies show.

It is not advisable to eat green potatoes or those that have begun to sprout. Removing the sprouts and green area from the skin, in addition to frying them, reduces the possibility of a toxic reaction. Never eat a potato with extensive sprout growth and dark green spots.

Yucca

There is a sweet variety and a bitter variety; none should be eaten raw. The tuber, also known as cassava, guacamot or casava, has a substance that releases hydrogen cyanide.

The greatest amount of poisonous substances is found in bitter cassava, not only in the skin of the tuber, but in its flesh.

Raw sweet cassava contains less than 50 mg of hydrogen cyanide per kilogram, while bitter cassava roots can contain up to 400 mg per kilogram.

Nutmeg

Ingesting large amounts of nutmeg can cause severe and even fatal poisoning with symptoms ranging from nausea, double vision, and dry mouth, to rapid heartbeat, hallucinations, and seizures.

The substance that causes toxicity is myristicin, an oil that comes from the nutmeg seed, and other components such as elemycin, may also be involved. Consumption greater than 10 grams is not recommended.

Hospital reports indicate that poisoning symptoms begin three to six hours after ingesting high doses of nutmeg. The strongest symptomatology is observed in those cases where the intake exceeds 18 grams of walnut powder.

Bitter almonds

Bitter almonds are not safe to eat. Bitter almonds contain a toxin known as amygdalin glycoside. When ingested, this toxin breaks down into several compounds, including hydrogen cyanide, a compound that can cause death.

Sweet almonds do have some amygdalin, but in small amounts that are insufficient to produce dangerous amounts of hydrogen cyanide.

Bitter almonds contain 50 times more cyanide per kilogram than sweet almonds, according to laboratory toxicology studies. Eating 50 bitter almonds can be deadly.

If you have been exposed to a small amount of cyanide, you may experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, rapid breathing, and a rapid heart rate.

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