Most of us love eating almost anything edible. Eating is an important process in life but we have to make sure that we know everything that pass through our mouth or we might lead to our end. Food poisoning occurs when you eat food contaminated with bacteria, parasites, viruses or other toxins. This top 10 list that we have is all about food which we commonly eat which you might not know about their poisonous traits.
10 – Mushrooms
| Mushroom Species | Toxicity | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha-amanitin | Deadly | Causes liver damage 1–3 days after ingestion. Principal toxin in genus Amanita. |
| Phallotoxin | Non-lethal | Causes gastrointestinal upset. Also found in poisonous Amanitas. |
| Orellanine | Deadly | Causes kidney failure within 3 weeks after ingestion. Principal toxin in genus Cortinarius. |
| Muscarine | Potentially Deadly | Can cause respiratory failure. Found in genus Omphalotus. |
| Gyromitrin | Deadly | Causes neurotoxicity, gastrointestinal upset, and destruction of blood cells. Principal toxin in genus Gyromitra. |
| Coprine | Non-lethal | Causes illness when consumed with alcohol. Principal toxin in genus Coprinus. |
| Ibotenic acid | Potentially Deadly | Causes neurotoxicity. Principal toxin in Amanita muscaria, A. pantherina, and A. gemmata. |
| Muscimol | Potentially Deadly | Causes CNS depression and hallucinations. Principal toxin in Amanita muscaria, A. pantherina, and A. gemmata. |
| Psilocybin and psilocin | Non-lethal | Causes CNS arousal and hallucinations. Principal 'toxins' in psilocybin mushrooms, many of which belonging to the genus Psilocybe. |
| Arabitol | Non-lethal | Causes gastrointestinal irritation in some people. |
| Bolesatine | Non-lethal | Causes gastrointestinal irritation, vomiting, nausea. |
| Ergotamine | Deadly | Affects the vascular system and can lead to loss of limbs and death. An alkaloid found in genus Claviceps. |
Usually fine provided that we picked the correct ones but most variety of these foods has in common – nearly 5 percent of these funguses have toxin.
9 – Rhubarb
The green leaves of the plant contain oxalic acid which can give you kidney stones and if enough eaten might kill you.
8 – Kidney beans
Mostly contains huge amount of toxin – lectin. With just 3 uncooked kidney beans could cause severe vomiting and sometimes may lead to Diarrhea.
Kidney beans are more toxic than most other bean varieties if not pre-soaked and subsequently heated to the boiling point for at least 10 minutes. The U.S Food and Drug Administration recommends boiling for 30 minutes to ensure they reach a sufficient temperature for long enough to completely destroy the toxin. However, cooking at the lower temperature of 80 °C (176 °F), such as in a slow cooker, can increase this danger and raise the toxin level up to fivefold.
7 – Apples
Beware of apple seeds. by the way, a pip is the small seed of a fruit like apple and oranges. Most apple pips contains cyanide which can lead to vomiting if you’ve eat enough.
Apple seeds do contain a small amount of cyanide, which is a lethal poison, but you are protected from the toxin by the hard seed coating. If you eat whole apple seeds, they pass through your digestive system relatively untouched. If you chew the seeds thoroughly, you will be exposed to the chemicals inside the seeds, but the dose of toxins in an apple is small enough that your body can easily detoxify it.
6 – Tomatoes
Tomatoes are quite a surprise in the list. The tomatoes fruit can’t cause anything, but the area near the leaves and stem contains a toxin – tomatine which of course a deadly one and can be used as pesticide or pest control.
Leaves, stems, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the toxic alkaloid tomatine. They also contain solanine, a toxic alkaloid found in potato leaves and other plants in the nightshade family. Use of tomato leaves in herbal tea has been responsible for at least one death. However, levels of tomatine in foliage and green fruit are generally too small to be dangerous unless large amounts are consumed, for example, as greens. Small amounts of tomato foliage are sometimes used for flavoring without ill effect, and the green fruit is sometimes used for cooking, particularly as fried green tomatoes.
5 – Potatoes
Did you know that green potatoes contain extreme amount of glycoalkaloid poison. Potatoes contain toxic compounds known as glycoalkaloids, of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine. Solanine is also found in other plants in the family Solanaceae, which includes such plants as the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and tobacco (Nicotiana) as well as the potato, eggplant, and tomato. This toxin affects the nervous system, causing weakness and confusion.
Death statistics of potatoes are rare but not unknown.
4 – Cherries
Cherries pips contain the chemical hydrogen cynide which can cause extreme vomiting, difficulties in breathing and kidney failure.
3 – Brazil nuts
You might not know this but this variety of nut is the world’s most radioactive food. The nut itself contains a radium 1000-times higher than that of average foods. According to Oak Ridge Associated Universities, this is not because of elevated levels of radium in the soil, but due to “the very extensive root system of the tree.”
2 – Nutmeg
A well known hallucinogen which can cause nutmeg psychosis that may lead to a sense of impending doom or it’s like you feel as though something extremely bad is going to happen but you are not sure what.
1 – Puffer fish
Mostly it’s a common Asian delicacy can lead to extreme paralysis and worse – death. In Japan, chefs trains from at least 2 to 3 years so they can prepare and serve this fish dish properly.
