People often prioritize taste over nutritional balance and food safety in their daily diets. There are nine common foods that, if consumed incorrectly, are tantamount to poisoning oneself. Traditional Chinese medicine professionals explain them below:
1. Leftovers
Deadly toxin: nitrite
Deadly Mechanism: Wild vegetables such as shepherd's purse and lamb's quarters contain large amounts of nitrites. If the human body ingests excessive amounts of nitrites, they can oxidize normal hemoglobin in the body into methemoglobin. In addition, nitrites can also prevent oxyhemoglobin from releasing oxygen, thereby causing tissue hypoxia and poisoning.
Detoxification methods: Make sure your family eats fresh vegetables. Cooked vegetables should not be stored for too long. Pickled vegetables should be washed and eaten only after being pickled for a month.
II. Blue-purple seaweed
Deadly toxin: cyclic
Deadly Mechanism: If the seaweed turns bluish-purple after soaking, it indicates that it was contaminated with toxic substances during its growth in the sea.
Detoxification method: These toxins cannot be detoxified by steaming or boiling, and should not be consumed.
III. Cassava
Deadly toxin: Linamarin
Deadly Mechanism: Although cassava roots are rich in starch, all parts of the plant, including the roots, stems, and leaves, contain toxic substances, with fresh roots being particularly toxic. Therefore, caution must be exercised when consuming cassava roots. The toxic substance in cassava is linamarin. Ingesting raw or undercooked cassava, or drinking its broth, can cause poisoning. This is because linamarin or linamarinase, after being hydrolyzed by gastric acid, produces free hydrocyanic acid, which leads to poisoning. Consuming 150-300 grams of raw cassava can cause poisoning and even death.
Detoxification method: To prevent cassava poisoning, peel the cassava before eating it and soak the flesh in water to dissolve the cyanogenic glycosides.
IV. Fresh wood ear mushrooms
Deadly toxin: Porphyrin-based photosensitive substances
Deadly Mechanism: Fresh wood ear mushrooms contain a porphyrin-like photosensitive substance. When consumed and then exposed to sunlight, it can cause photodermatitis; in severe cases, laryngeal edema can lead to respiratory distress. Detoxification Method: Do not consume.
V. Broad beans
Deadly toxin: vicine
Deadly Mechanism: Broad bean seeds contain vicine, which can cause acute hemolytic anemia (favism) after consumption. Improper cooking of raw broad beans, especially during spring and summer, can often lead to poisoning. Symptoms typically appear 4 to 24 hours after eating raw broad beans.
Detoxification method: To prevent broad bean poisoning, it is best not to eat fresh, tender broad beans, and they must be cooked thoroughly before consumption.
VI. Cruciferous vegetables
Deadly Toxin: Oil
Deadly Mechanism: Cruciferous vegetables, including rapeseed, mustard greens, and radishes, mostly contain oleuropeins, a type of toxin that can inhibit human growth and development and cause goiter. The oleuropein content varies greatly among different vegetables, or even different parts of the same vegetable. Improper handling can lead to goiter, metabolic disorders, poisoning symptoms, and even death.
Detoxification method: When cooking these vegetables, blanch them in boiling water before eating.
7. Raw Soy Milk
Deadly toxin: Saponin
Mechanism of action: Raw soybeans also contain toxic components. Therefore, consuming uncooked soy milk can also cause food poisoning. Especially when soy milk is heated to around 80℃, saponins expand due to heat, causing foam to rise and creating a "false boiling" phenomenon. In reality, the toxic components such as saponins present in the soy milk are not completely destroyed at this temperature. Drinking this soy milk will cause poisoning, with symptoms typically appearing 0.5 to 1 hour after consumption, primarily manifesting as gastroenteritis.
Antidote: To prevent poisoning from drinking raw soy milk, continue heating to 100℃ after the soy milk reaches a "false boil" during cooking. Cooked soy milk will not have foam.
8. Sprouted Potatoes
Deadly toxin: Solanine
Deadly Mechanism: Potatoes are a common vegetable on family tables, but they contain the toxic compound solanine (potato toxin, glycoside). This toxin is present throughout the entire potato plant, although the concentration varies in different parts. Mature potatoes contain relatively low levels and generally do not cause poisoning. However, the sprouts, flowers, leaves, and outer skin of the tuber contain higher levels of solanine. The toxin content in potato sprouts can be tens to hundreds of times higher than in the flesh. Immature green potatoes or potato tubers with black spots due to improper storage contain extremely high levels of toxic substances.
Detoxification method: To prevent potato poisoning, store potatoes in a dry, cool place to prevent sprouting. When eating, if you find sprouts or blackish-green skin and flesh, it's best not to consume them.
9. Daylily
Deadly toxin: Colchicine
Deadly Mechanism: Daylilies, also known as golden needles, are a popular vegetable. However, they contain colchicine, which, when ingested, is oxidized in the body to form colchicine dimer. Colchicine dimer is a highly toxic substance that can poison the gastrointestinal tract and urinary system, seriously threatening health. An adult can be poisoned by consuming 50-100 grams of fresh daylilies at once.
Detoxification method: To prevent poisoning from fresh daylilies, briefly boil them in boiling water, then soak them in clean water to remove most of the water-soluble colchicine. Alternatively, cook the fresh daylilies thoroughly before cooking and consuming them.
