An 8-year-old girl was acutely poisoned after eating lychees! There are also these "dangerous" fruits, be careful when eating...

Expert of this article: Zhang Zheng, PhD in Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Soochow University

Recently, a hospital in Hengshui, Hebei Province received an 8-year-old girl who suffered from hypoglycemia after eating lychees. She was diagnosed with acute lychee poisoning.

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Doctors say that two substances in lychees will inhibit the metabolic conversion of sugar and cause acute lychee poisoning. Mild cases will cause pale complexion and fatigue, while severe cases may cause loss of consciousness or even death.

Some people may ask: Why does eating lychees cause poisoning? How should we eat them?

I suggest that parents read this article carefully three times! Read it three times! Read it three times!

What is litchi disease?

Litchi disease is actually a special type of hypoglycemia, also known as "hypoglycemia acute encephalitis syndrome", which is common in children aged 4-11 years old.

It is a disease caused by a special group of people who eat a lot of litchi. It is manifested by typical symptoms of hypoglycemia, such as dizziness, palpitations, sweating, pale complexion, etc. In severe cases, people may suddenly fall into a coma, have convulsions, and have a drop in blood pressure, and may even die if rescue is not timely.

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Will eating too many lychees cause poisoning or even death?

The causes of litchi disease can be divided into three aspects:

First of all, lychees are high in sugar. Eating lychees will stimulate the secretion of insulin and lower blood sugar levels, but the fructose in lychees cannot be directly used by the human body.

Secondly, lychees contain glycine A and methylenecyclopropylglycine, which inhibit the formation of glucose in the human body (the content of these two substances is higher in immature lychees), affect the body's sugar metabolism, and also have the effect of lowering blood sugar.

Both of these reasons lead to a decrease in blood sugar levels after eating lychees, but the most critical factor that ultimately leads to the occurrence of lychee disease is the body factor, that is, the age group of the onset of the disease.

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Adults have strong blood sugar regulation ability and are able to cope with fluctuations in blood sugar levels. The decrease in blood sugar can be compensated by liver glycogen. However, children have insufficient liver glycogen reserves, which makes them sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations and unable to replenish glucose in the blood in time, which ultimately leads to the occurrence of litchi disease.

Will you be found guilty of drunk driving after eating lychees?

Since litchi has a high sugar content, anaerobic fermentation may occur during transportation and storage to produce ethanol. When people eat litchi, they can often smell a faint "wine flavor" in it. However, the ethanol produced by litchi fermentation is very small and is difficult to be detected by alcohol detection devices after consumption. It is not enough to cause drunk driving, so there is no need to worry too much.

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In addition, it is not recommended to eat lychees on an empty stomach.

Because the human body's blood sugar is at a low level when fasting, coupled with the insulin factor after eating lychees and the influence of glycine A and methylenecyclopropylglycine in lychees will further lower blood sugar, causing hypoglycemia and more likely to cause lychee disease. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat lychees on an empty stomach.

How should we eat lychees?

Litchi disease has a specific age of onset. The younger the age, the less lychees one should eat every day.

Infants under 1 year old should try not to eat it. Children aged 1-4 years old should eat it in small amounts, no more than 5 pieces at a time. Adults with normal glucose tolerance should eat no more than half a pound (about 15 pieces) at a time.

In addition, pregnant women are in a special physiological period and their blood sugar fluctuates greatly, so they should eat lychees in moderation, within 10 pieces, and try to eat mature lychees.

Which fruits will affect your health if eaten too much?

In addition to lychees, plums, persimmons and hawthorns are rich in tannic acid, which easily combine with stomach acid to form precipitates. Excessive consumption can induce gastric stones, causing stomach pain and diarrhea.

Especially unripe plums, persimmons and hawthorns, which have higher tannic acid content and are more likely to cause stomach stones.

Star fruit contains citric acid, oxalic acid and neurotoxins. Excessive consumption will cause excessive secretion of gastric acid, damage the gastric mucosa, and cause gastric mucosal diseases in the long term.

In addition, the neurotoxins in carambola can also cause damage to the central nervous system, causing poisoning symptoms such as numbness of the limbs, difficulty breathing, and vomiting.

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Bananas are high in magnesium and potassium. Eating too many of them will increase the magnesium and potassium content in the blood, causing an imbalance in the magnesium-calcium ratio in the body.

Pineapple contains serotonin, which can cause blood vessels to constrict and increase blood pressure. Eating too much can cause headaches.

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