People's daily diets often focus on taste while neglecting nutritional balance and the safety of the food itself. There are 8 common foods that, if consumed incorrectly, are equivalent to poisoning yourself. A professional in TCM health preservation explains as follows:
One, Leftovers
Fatal Toxin: Nitrite
Fatal Mechanism: Wild vegetables such as shepherd's purse and lamb's-quarters in green vegetables contain large amounts of nitrite. If excessive nitrite is ingested by the human body, it can oxidize normal hemoglobin into methemoglobin. Furthermore, nitrite can prevent oxygenated hemoglobin from releasing oxygen, leading to tissue and organ hypoxia and causing poisoning.
Detoxification Method: Be sure to have your family eat fresh vegetables. Cooked vegetables should not be kept for too long after cooking. Pickled vegetables should be washed one month after pickling before consumption.
Two, Blue or Purple Seaweed
Fatal Toxin: Cyclic peptides
Fatal Mechanism: If seaweed turns blue or purple after rehydration, it means it was polluted by toxic substances, cyclic peptides, while growing in the sea.
Detoxification Method: These toxins cannot be neutralized by steaming or boiling, so they must not be consumed.
Three, Cassava
Fatal Toxin: Linamarin
Fatal Mechanism: Although the root of the cassava is rich in starch, all parts of the plant, including the root, stem, and leaves, contain toxic substances, and the fresh root is particularly toxic. Therefore, care must be taken when eating cassava roots. The toxic substance in cassava is linamarin. If raw or undercooked cassava or its soup is consumed, it can cause poisoning. This is because linamarin or linamarase is hydrolyzed by stomach acid to produce free hydrogen cyanide, poisoning the human body. A person can be poisoned by consuming 150-300 grams of raw cassava, which can even be fatal.
Detoxification Method: To prevent cassava poisoning, peel the cassava before consumption and soak the flesh in water to dissolve the cyanogenic glycosides.
Four, Broad Beans
Fatal Toxin: Vicine
Fatal Mechanism: Broad bean seeds contain vicine. When consumed by humans, this substance can cause acute hemolytic anemia (favism). Eating green broad beans in spring and summer can often cause poisoning if not cooked properly. Symptoms usually appear 4-24 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 thoroughly cooked before consumption.
Five, Cruciferous Vegetables
Fatal Toxin: Glucosinolate
Fatal Mechanism: Cruciferous vegetables include rapeseed, mustard greens, radishes, etc. Most of these vegetables contain glucosinolates, which are toxins that can inhibit human growth and development and cause goiter. The content of glucosinolates varies greatly between different vegetables or different parts of the same vegetable. If not handled properly, it can cause goiter, metabolic disorders, poisoning symptoms, and even death.
Detoxification Method: When cooking these vegetables, you can blanch them in boiling water first before consumption.
Six, Raw Soy Milk
Fatal Toxin: Saponin
Fatal Mechanism: Since raw soybeans also contain toxic components, consuming undercooked soy milk can also cause food poisoning. Especially when soy milk is heated to around 80°C, saponin expands, foam rises, creating a "false boil" phenomenon. In fact, at this point, toxic components like saponin in the soy milk have not been completely destroyed. Drinking this soy milk will cause poisoning, with symptoms usually appearing 0.5-1 hour after consumption, mainly showing gastroenteritis symptoms.
Detoxification Method: To prevent poisoning from drinking raw soy milk, continue heating to 100°C after the "false boil" occurs. Cooked soy milk has no foam.
Seven, Daylilies (Fresh)
Fatal Toxin: Colchicine
Fatal Mechanism: Daylilies, also known as golden needles, are a popular dish. However, fresh daylilies contain colchicine. After being ingested by the human body, colchicine is oxidized in the body to form a toxic substance called dihydrocolchicine. Dihydrocolchicine is highly toxic, harming the human gastrointestinal and urinary systems, posing a serious threat to health. An adult can be poisoned by consuming 50-100 grams of fresh daylilies at once.
Detoxification Method: To prevent poisoning from fresh daylilies, you can briefly boil them in boiling water and then soak them in fresh water to remove most of the water-soluble colchicine. You can also cook the fresh daylilies thoroughly before preparing and eating them.
Eight, Sprouted Potatoes
Fatal Toxin: Solanine
Fatal Mechanism: The potato is a common vegetable on family tables, but it contains a toxic component called solanine (also known as potato toxin or glycoalkaloid). The entire potato plant contains this toxin, though the amount varies by part. Mature potatoes contain less and generally do not cause poisoning. However, the sprouts, flowers, leaves, and the outer skin of the tuber contain higher levels of solanine. The toxin in the sprout area of a potato can be tens to hundreds of times higher than in the flesh. Immature green potatoes or tubers with black spots due to improper storage contain extremely high levels of toxic substances.
Detoxification Method: To prevent potato poisoning, we can store potatoes in a cool, dry place to prevent sprouting. When eating, if you find that the potato has sprouted or the skin and flesh are black-green, it is best not to eat it.