The Six Deadliest Foods
With obesity responsible for 100,000-400,000 annual deaths in America, it's no shock that food kills. At least fast food. But greasy fries and fattening ribs aren't the only foods that can harm.
Behold six deadly foods which have the potential to kill you if misused or served improperly.
|Are these delicious frites deadly?|
If you've ever had yuca frites, you know how sweet and appealing the starchy root (aka cassava or manioc) can be. Too bad it's laced with cyanide. No, these delicious frites won't put you in the hospital, but that's because cooking the root prior to consumption breaks down the cyanide and makes it safe to eat. You have to wonder who discovered that little tidbit in the first place, and how many people croaked eating yuca before he did.
What's spiny, slimy and 1200 times more potent than cyanide? Dinner! Fugu contains high amounts of tetrodotoxin, a poison that causes the victim to become paralyzed and suffer from dizziness, headache, breathing difficulty and other horrific side effects while awake and aware the whole time. After an hour or so of hell, some victims of fugu poisoning recover. The other 50-80% bite it.
No worries, though. Several countries have banned blowfish and Japan requires sellers to go through rigorous training before being allowed to serve the dish.
Anything eaten for a contest or on a dare
In 2007, a San Francisco woman famously OD'd on water while trying to win a radio contest. A year later, some poor English schmuck kicks it after downing a scalding chili for a bet with a buddy. I don't know about you, but bragging rights at the local pub or a Nintendo Wii aren't worth dying for. Trust us, if a pal dares you to eat fugu testicles or your co-workers invite you to a lunchtime pastry chokedown, they don't have your best interests at heart.
Raw pork can carry a number of harmful bacteria, including the third leading cause of food borne illness deaths: Toxoplasma gondii. You probably know about it from that whole "pregnant women shouldn't have cats because cat crap causes Toxoplasmosis" scare. Burnt bacon tastes better anyways, so just cook any pork products well. And don't eat out of your cat's litter box.
Before you go all "alcohol isn't a food, blah blah this list sucks" on our asses, shut your whiney-bitch pie hole and have a Guinness, which as any Irishman can tell you is a meal in itself. No, it won't kill you to have an extra margarita tonight. But Time reports that "one in 25 deaths around the world is caused by alcohol consumption," which propels it to the top of this list.
By thebittenword.com via Flickr
When canned improperly, foods can contain Clostridium botulinum spores, resulting in blurry vision, respiratory problems and a possible dirt nap. So the next time your granola-crunchy hippie friend with the canning machine offers you a jar of miscellaneous home-canned organic crap, just say no.