The puzzling case of two women who lost their hair after eating bitter squash

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For those who hate eating their vegetables, it’s easy to imagine that they’re actually toxic plants masquerading as food. But, as Ars has reported before, many of the common vegetables, fruits, spices, and other plant matter that we shovel in do in fact contain toxins—albeit at minor, generally harmless amounts.

 

This includes veggies in the Cucurbitaceae family also called cucurbits or gourds (see gallery of family members below), which contain a class of poisons called cucurbitacins. The toxic steroids are among the most bitter-tasting compounds biochemists have ever come across and, in the plants, they function as a defense against herbivores. Most domesticated varieties of gourds have had high levels of cucurbitacins bred out of them. But stressful growing conditions, such as droughts or high temperatures, can cause plants to boost production. Also, accidental cross-pollination with wild, bitter varieties can up toxin levels.

 

As such, consumers can occasionally come across super bitter gourds—and suffer what some researchers call toxic squash syndrome if they eat them. This may happen more often than people might think; a recent analysis in France tallied 353 cases between 2012 and 2016. Of those, more than 50 percent were due to squash consumed from a grocery store. That said, the Food and Drug Administration told me earlier that these cases are rare in the US.

 

When it does happen, toxic squash syndrome is usually marked by diarrhea (sometimes bloody), vomiting, and abdominal pain, which can sometimes lead to dehydration, low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, headaches, and vertigo. If eaten in high enough levels, the poisons can lead to lethal fluid buildup in the lungs (pulmonary edema). But according to a recent case reported in JAMA Dermatology, there’s another puzzling symptom: hair loss.

 

Source: Link

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Another typical case of an extremely dangerous food is the poisonous variety of the cassava, also known as manioc, yuca, mandioca and Brazilian arrowroot. It is a woody shrub native to South America, extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates.

Cassava is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and maize. Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for over half a billion people. It is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils.

Cassava is classified as either sweet or bitter. Like other roots and tubers, both bitter and sweet varieties of cassava contain antinutritional factors and toxins, with the bitter varieties containing much larger amounts. It must be properly prepared before consumption, as improper preparation of cassava can leave enough residual cyanide to cause acute cyanide intoxication, goiters, and even ataxia, partial paralysis, or death. The more toxic varieties of cassava are a fall-back resource (a "food security crop") in times of famine or food insecurity in some places.