10 Everyday Foods You Didn’t Know Could Kill You
- Mushrooms
Not every mushroom is created equal. Cremini mushrooms might make perfect pasta toppers, but some species contain poisons that can kill.
- Tomatoes
The juicy, red fruit contains a poison, glycoalkaloid, in its leaves, which is known for causing upset stomachs, severe cramping, and anxiety. So steer clear of the leaves and stems.
- Margarine
People choose margarine over butter because it doesn’t have cholesterol in it, but what you need to pay attention to is what IS in it! Margarine is extremely high in trans-fat, which can damage your blood vessels and even increase your cholesterol.
- Potatoes
You may have heard that potatoes, if not consumed at the right time, can be dangerous. You heard correctly. The leaves, stem, and sprouts of a potato contain Glycoalkaloids, which are also found in nightshade. If you leave a potato in bad conditions (as in too moist or bright, or you just let them sit out for too long) they will begin to sprout. It’s suggested to throw these potatoes away, even if you do cut off the sprouts, as the poison may be in the potato if too much time has passed. Scientists claim that a 100 pound person would have to eat 16 oz. of a sprouted potato to get ill, which is approximately one baked potato.
- Kidney Beans
If you thought lima beans were bad, you are really going to think twice the next time you make chili.
Although many types of beans have a toxic compound, red kidney beans have the highest concentration of all beans. You need to vigorously boil kidney beans to remove this toxin. Eating raw kidney beans will bring on symptoms within 1 to 3 hours and it only takes about 4 or 5 beans to do the trick. Symptoms start with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
Many cases are due to slow cookers or crock pots, as the temperatures do not reach a high enough level to destroy the glycoprotein lectin. In fact, heating kidney beans to a mere 80 degrees actually makes the toxin more potent, perhaps as much as 5 times stronger! So heating the beans without actually boiling them would make them even more deadly than eating them raw.
- Raw Meat and Uncooked Eggs
Raw meat — including red meat, poultry, and seafood — and uncooked eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which can cause gastroenteritis in humans. Salmonella poisoning can also lead to serious complications, such as bacteremia (when salmonella enters the bloodstream), that are life-threatening to people with weaker immune systems. So light a flame under your meat to avoid any risks.
- Fruit Juice
A lot of shoppers think they are healthy when they purchase fruit juice, but these are actually very bad for the body. Not only are most made with artificial flavors and not any real fruit, they are packed full of sugar and other chemicals that can cause obesity and other serious health problems. Even real fruit juice is packed full of sugar that provides you with no nutritional value. It’s best to eat a piece of fruit instead of drink it, unless you’re juicing your own fresh fruits and vegetables at home.
- Wild Almonds (bitter almonds)
If you weren’t aware of it before, there are two types of almonds. Sweet almonds and bitter almonds. Bitter almonds, when eaten raw, are extremely poisonous. Bitter almonds contain a poison called glycoside amygdalin. After someone consumes bitter almonds, glycoside amygdalin turns into prussic acid, more commonly known as hydrogen cyanide.
- Cashews
When you see “raw cashews” at the store, know that they are lying to you. Those store cashews are actually steamed to remove a chemical called urushiol, which is also found in poison ivy if that helps paint a picture. Consuming actual raw cashews can prove fatal, especially for people with an allergy to poison ivy. So if you’ve ever seen cashews in nature for some weird reason… it’s not trail mix, don’t eat them. Depending on your sensitivity to poison ivy, as little as a handful of raw cashews could be extremely dangerous to the average consumer.
- Soda
Regular soda is a huge source of sugar and a variety of other chemicals that have been linked to several different types of cancer. These provide absolutely no nutritional value to you and can lead to diabetes as well.
