Many foods we commonly eat in our daily lives: seafood, fruits and vegetables, nuts, fungi... Don't be fooled by their delicious taste and rich nutritional value. In fact, some of them contain natural toxins that can cause serious harm to the body. A moment of carelessness can be fatal!
Seafood
1. Pufferfish
The toxic component of pufferfish is tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin. Ingesting just 0.5mg to 3mg can be lethal to a person. The liver, spleen, kidneys, ovaries, testes, eyeballs, skin, and blood of a pufferfish are all toxic, with the eggs, ovaries, and liver being the most poisonous. The toxin is heat-resistant and cannot be destroyed by salting or sun-drying. Only the meat of the pufferfish is edible because it contains a lower level of toxicity.
2. Crab Gills and Heart
Crab gills tend to accumulate more environmental pollutants, metabolic waste, and even toxic substances compared to other organs.
The crab heart is where blood is pooled. The blood contains lymphocytes, phagocytes, and other components that may cause allergic reactions in the digestive tracts of some sensitive individuals, leading to irritable bowel syndrome with symptoms like diarrhea.
3. Fish Gallbladder
The gallbladders of fish like the grass carp, silver carp, sea bass, and common carp contain bile toxins, which damage the human liver and kidneys. They also harm brain cells and heart muscle, causing damage to the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Since bile toxins are not easily destroyed by heat or alcohol, ingesting more than 2.5g, whether raw, cooked, or taken with alcohol, can lead to poisoning or even death.
4. Shrimp Head
The shrimp head is rich in protein and nutrients. However, due to serious pollution and leakage problems in both the sea and rivers, the shrimp head is the part that absorbs and processes the most toxins, and is also the most likely area to accumulate pathogens, parasites, and harmful substances.
Vegetables
5. Green Tomatoes
Green tomatoes contain solanine, which has a strong irritating effect on the gastrointestinal mucosa and a paralyzing effect on the central nervous system. It can cause symptoms like vomiting and dizziness. Eating them raw is even more dangerous and they should not be consumed.
6. Sprouted Potatoes
After a potato sprouts, the area around the sprouts contains a large amount of toxic solanine, a neurotoxin that can suppress the respiratory center. If a person ingests 200mg of solanine at once, which is about half a liang (25g) of a greened, sprouted potato, symptoms will appear within 15 minutes to 3 hours. To eat sprouted potatoes, you must deeply cut out and peel the skin around the sprouts, soak them in water for a period of time, and cook them for a longer duration.