10 Scary Reactions to Seemingly Normal Foods

For many people, food is something that brings them joy and comfort. We indulge in junk food, try to eat healthy, cook too much food to celebrate special occasions, and thanks to the Internet, we can learn about new and exotic foods from around the world to try. But there are issues we need to be careful about, such as overindulgence, food allergies, and food safety. But even the most careful and responsible of us would be unlikely to notice any of these strange reactions to food.

10. Ghost pepper-induced lung collapse

If you've ever tried eating a ghost pepper, you know that you probably should never eat a ghost pepper. On average, they're about 1 million Scoville heat units. Compare that to sriracha, which is at best about 2500 For most people, eating ghost peppers causes intense discomfort, sweating, salivation, and possibly an upset stomach. That's a good reaction, though, relatively speaking.

A 47-year-old man who took part in a ghost pepper eating competition was taken to hospital after suffering severe pain and vomiting. to the hospital . Doctors discovered that he had a ruptured esophagus, meaning he had torn his throat as a result of eating the pepper. He also suffered a pneumothorax, better known as collapsed lung .

The hole in the man's throat was leaking food into his chest cavity, including hamburger, onions and "green vomit." It was suggested that he had eaten not just peppers, but a pepper burger, and then drank a lot of water. As a result he spent 23 days in the hospital and when he was discharged he still had a breathing tube.

9. Carbohydrate-rich foods that lead to intoxication

Chances are, at least once in your life, you've experienced an upset stomach after eating something that wasn't necessarily bad, but you just didn't like it. Maybe it made you sick, or maybe it just pissed you off, who knows? The stomach is a weird and wonderful place, and no one knows that better than a 61-year-old Texas man whose claim to fame is an inexplicable beer belly.

This beer gut is not related to the extra weight from drinking beer, but to the way a person digests food. He was admitted to hospital suffering from dizziness and related problems, and a blood test showed that his blood alcohol level was 0,37% , indicating that he was quite drunk. The strangest thing, of course, was that the man did not drink alcohol.

As it turns out, the man suffers from a condition called autobrewery syndrome . Doctors initially dismissed this as the man was basically a liar. They assumed he was secretly drinking and not admitting it. After he was monitored and determined that his alcohol levels would rise even when he was not visibly drinking, they discovered that he had a lot of brewer's yeast in his digestive tract. When he ate any carbohydrates, the yeast and sugar would combine to start producing alcohol inside his body.

The condition is quite rare and not enough research has been done to know much about it, but it appears to be linked to the use of antibiotics, which can kill other gut bacteria.

8. Black Licorice Heart Attacks

Black licorice is something of a maligned treat in the candy world, regularly appearing on worst-of lists candy . Still, some people love it, and as if to prove all the haters, it can be really bad. Eating large amounts of black licorice comes with serious health risks that you might not expect from a run-of-the-mill candy.

Black licorice was tied with at least one death as a result of a heart attack. The man was 54 years old and had been eating one or two packets of black licorice every day for several weeks. He collapsed and then died 24 hours after being admitted to hospital. His blood tests showed incredibly low potassium levels, caused by something called glycyrrhizin This is what makes black licorice sweet, but clearly dangerous.

Low potassium levels can dangerously alter heart rhythms, which, combined with the man's already poor health from smoking and poor diet, led to a fatal heart attack. Obviously, you'd have to consume a lot of licorice to suffer this fate, but it can happen.

7. Swelling of the throat from hot food

It's usually a good thing when food is hot, because most dishes just taste better that way. But there are levels of heat, and you've probably burned your tongue at least once when you realized something wasn't cool enough to eat. So what do you do when food is too hot? Most of us wait, or maybe blow on it to speed things up. Unfortunately, that's not what Darren Hickey did.

The 51-year-old man worked as a wedding planner and was on site when the chef offered him try fish pie . He must have eaten it too quickly, because the pie was hot, and instead of spitting it out, he simply swallowed it. The fish pie burned his throat, and for a while he seemed fine. However, within a day the burn started to swell , until his throat became so constricted that he could no longer breathe. He died as a result of his injuries.

6. Death by fermented corn noodles

Most of us in the Western world eat noodles made from wheat, and sometimes rice noodles. But you can make noodles from a variety of different ingredients, including corn. A Chinese dish called suantangzi is made from fermented corn noodles, and that's where the problem arose for a family in China who ate the dish back in 2020. The bottom line nine family members died.

Corn can grow a bacterium that as a by-product produces the so-calledBoncrecic acid . The bacteria that produce it are almost impossible to get rid of, and you can't wash it off or cook it. It has no taste or smell, so you can't tell if your food is contaminated.

Eating contaminated grains causes vomiting and abdominal pain, and the mortality rate is quite high. The only method of prevention is to not eat fermented grains at all.

5. Severe gastrointestinal distress from Escolar

The saying “there are plenty of fish in the sea” usually refers to romantic prospects, but it is also simply an accurate observation. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and humans generally consume only a small amount of them as a food source. Tuna, salmon, and snapper are very common. But what about escolar?

Unscrupulous fishmongers sometimes swap escolar for tuna because it is cheaper. Escolar is generally considered a tasty fish, but it is not suitable for most people to eat because of the natural wax in the fish's flesh, which can cause rashes in some people. keriorrhea . Even if you don't know the word, the suffix should alert you. It's a specific type of diarrhea that you can Google if you're feeling adventurous, and it's known to be caused by escolar 30 to 36 hours after eating it.

While some people hide the fish by pretending it is tuna, other places sell it openly as white tuna, butterfish, rudd or Hawaiian waloo because it is actually considered tasty and does not cause a negative reaction in everyone, making it a kind of seafood version of Russian roulette. This has earned Escolar the nickname Ex-Lax Fish .

4. Dreamfish Hallucinations

The Salema porgy fish can be found off the coast of Africa and Europe, but it is more commonly called dream fish People have been eating them since ancient Rome and perhaps earlier, but they are definitely not an everyday food because these little fish will make you trip. They contain hallucinogenic compounds similar to LSD.

Despite or because of the effects, you can find fish on menus all over Europe, you just have to be careful when eating it. Some people report being unable to perform even basic tasks after eating the fish. At least one diner claimed to have seen Angel of Death, while other people hallucinated Batman or the chatter of birds. For example, they could see the sounds made by birds.

It's not all fun and games, however, as stomach pain, amnesia and paralysis are also potential effects, along with "brain electricity."

3. Easy Microwave Popcorn Pops

For now microwave popcorn is already over 40 years old , and it's been a staple of movie nights at home for a while now. Who doesn't love a bag of pre-buttered popcorn that's ready in two minutes? But microwave popcorn has a little-known dark side known as popcorn lung. It sounds a little silly, but it could be fatal.

Popcorn lung occurs when the bronchioles of your lungs become damaged and inflamed due to inhaling toxins. It gets its name from the disease's close association with popcorn. In fact, it was first discovered in workers at popcorn factory , and then appeared in some people who ate large amounts of microwave popcorn at home.

Popcorn used to be treated with a chemical called diacetyl, which gave it a buttery flavor without the need for real butter, which would spoil in a bag of popcorn.

Additionally, chemicals in the popcorn bags themselves have been found to contain perfluorinated compounds , which are associated with cancer.

2. Poisoning of Nardu

Most of us probably haven’t heard of nardoo, but it’s an edible fern that can be found in Australia. The Aborigines have known about it for centuries, and they can show you how to cook it and eat it if you want. And unless you want to suffer the potentially deadly consequences of eating it, you really should follow their instructions.

Nardoo became famous back in 1861, when Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills attempted to become the first non-Aboriginals to cross Australia from south to north. Within three months, their supplies ran out, and some locals showed them how to make nardoo. With an abundant supply, they continued to eat it, up to five pounds a day, but there was a problem. Despite the food, they were getting weaker. They lost weight, their heartbeats slowed, and they began to shake frequently. They were starving, but they didn't realize it.

Nardu contains an enzyme under the name thiaminase . It prevents the body from processing thiamine, which is vitamin B1, and this in turn prevents energy metabolism from the food you eat. So you can eat and eat and eat, but you don't get any nutritional benefits.

What Wills and Burke failed to realize was that the natives roasted the nardoo seed pods before cooking them. Heat destroys the thiaminase and makes it edible. They ate it raw. Both men died as a result.

1. Sexually transmitted allergy

Nut allergies are so common that kids can no longer eat peanut butter in most schools, and peanuts have been replaced with pretzels on airplanes . But the extent to which a person can suffer from a nut allergy is not entirely clear to most of us, because in some cases it is almost unbelievable. This is the case with in pairs , which was written about in a medical journal back in 2007.

In this case, the man in the couple ate Brazil nuts two or three hours before meeting his girlfriend, who they both knew had a nut allergy. He claimed that he had already showered and brushed his teeth before seeing her, so there was no reaction. However, there was a reaction, and a very specific one, in a very sensitive area, which occurred after they had sex, if you know what we mean.

Further testing showed that Allergens from nuts were actually transmitted through her boyfriend's semen during intercourse, causing her to have an allergic reaction. There is evidence that a similar situation occurred with another woman, indicating that allergies can be sexually transmitted.