The bleak winter arrives with falling leaves, which means the many colorful fruits of autumn disappear from our sight, replaced by a dazzling display of golden persimmons. However, after indulging your cravings, you might contract persimmon-induced illness—bezoars.
Persimmons contain tannic acid, which can combine with proteins to form insoluble tannic acid protein that deposits in the stomach. Persimmons, especially unripe green-skinned ones, contain substances such as gum, pectin, sorbitol, and red tannins. When these substances react with stomach acid, they can coagulate, precipitate, and clump together. They can also aggregate with incompletely digested food. Through stomach peristalsis, these form a large mass, known as a bezoar. Eating too many persimmons on an empty stomach more easily leads to persimmon bezoars.
Mild cases of persimmon bezoars may be asymptomatic. In severe cases, symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, discomfort or a heavy, bloated feeling in the upper abdomen, and loss of appetite appear several hours or days after eating persimmons. The vomit is mostly a small amount of clear fluid or mucus, sometimes containing a little crushed bezoar. Because the bezoar can block the cardia during vomiting, the amount of vomit is generally not large. In long-term cases, it can lead to gastric mucosal erosion, and even ulcerative bleeding, presenting with symptoms of peptic ulcer disease. If the persimmon bezoar enters the small intestine, it can also cause intestinal obstruction.
Currently, there is no specific treatment for bezoars. For mild cases, oral digestive enzymes or sodium bicarbonate may be administered; abdominal wall massage can also be used to crush the mass; the mass can also be crushed and broken up via gastroscopy, followed by gastric lavage or laxatives to expel it. For severe cases, surgical treatment should be considered.