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Zucchinis linked to rare poisonings in England
- adrr 6y agoAlso happens to potatoes. Natural breeding can cause plants that produce too much glycoalkaloids.
- HarryHirsch 6y agoWasn't it the other way round - current varieties do not contain much solanine but are comparatively prone to mould and other plant pathogens? Defense against pathogens is why evolution developed these alkaloids in geological time.
- KozmoNau7 6y agoThe Lenape potato is a great example of this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenape_potato https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenape_potato It was basically perfect for potato chips due to its low moisture and sugar content, plus it was resistant to blight and easy to grow. Shame about the glycoalkaloids, though.
- sangfroid_bio 6y agoOrganic chemistry and neuroscience are complex. FWIW soursop has also been linked to causing Parkinson's like syndromes due to neuro toxicity.
- nojs 6y agoWow, for anyone else curious: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/soursop https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/... > Fruits have high polyphenol content, and regular consumption is linked with beneficial properties such as anticancer, anti-leishmanial, and antidiabetic activities. Contradictorily, consumption of soursop fruit is correlated with the development of neurodegenerative disease (Parkinson disease), which is attributed to the presence of annonacin in the seeds.
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 6y agoBut soursop seeds are not eaten? FWIW, this French study concluded that there's no evidence to support a connection: http://www.anses.fr/sites/default/files/documents/NUT2008sa0171.pdf http://www.anses.fr/sites/default/files/documents/NUT2008sa0...
- amacbride 6y agoToday I learned about cucurbitacins. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbitacin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbitacin
- prawn 6y agoBit half-bakery but it immediately made me wonder if these compounds could be what juvenile palates tend to find distasteful?
- maxerickson 6y agoYes. Lots of compounds that plants make for defense are bitter tasting. (tasting bitter flavors is one of the ways we defend ourselves from the compounds)
- austincheney 6y agoEven more interesting is Naringin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naringin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naringin This is a toxic flavonoid found in a variety of common fruits. It has been well known since the mid 80s when grapefruits became known for killing elderly people in nursing homes. Last year the FDA posted an advisory not to drink any fruit juice with powerful medications. I remember this came up in conversation last year on HN when people were deeply offended when I pointed out that eating gold, an extreme heavy metal, is toxic especially with certain food combinations and then a week later reading about the FDA advisory on CNN.
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- perl4ever 6y ago"How to Use Edible Gold Leaf for Dishes That Are Fancy AF" https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/194092/edible-gold-leaf-how-to-use-it/ https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/194092/edible-gold-leaf-...
- 6y ago
- thomasjames 6y agoYet chlorinated chicken is what we keep hearing all the moaning about coming our way. I'll pass on mad cow beef and now death zucchinis too. Maybe expanding transatlantic agricultural trade just doesn't make sense.
- dylan604 6y agoI knew there was some scientific reason why I don't like zucchinis! I tried having this conversation with the parental units for years (40 years ago), but they'd never listen!
- cmclaughlin 6y agoI just made zucchini fritters couple nights ago and I would bet most would like them. Shredded them with potatoes and squeezed most of the water out. Mixed with eggs, garbanzo bean flour and salt. Deep fried and served with yogurt as a dipping sauce. That was my first time making them, but it will be a regular addition to my summer menu.
- op00to 6y agoTry making zucchini enchiladas. Grate the zucchini and mix it up with cheese and sauce. You can add protein if you want.
- cortesoft 6y agoWell yeah, anything is yummy if it is deep fried.
- dylan604 6y agoThis is the underlying theory of the vendors at the State Fair of ________.
- hnick 6y agoDisagree! I cannot stand seafood and I think it's a genetic setting of some sort (similar to those cilantro people) and deep frying doesn't help at all :( It's only ever been palatable twice in my life - as plain white fish at a chinese restaurant with a lot of soy sauce and other stuff. It's probably neutralising a chemical that triggers my warning systems.
- webignition 6y ago
- aaron695 6y agoI feel like it's important to get these seeds and test if this is actually true. No one has done any tests and no one has been quoted saying they tasted bitter. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8529641/Mother-38-rushed-hospital-poisoned-courgettes-grew-lockdown.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8529641/Mother-38-r...
- londons_explore 6y agoI assume that before issuing a recall and destroying all their stock, the company would go to great lengths to confirm that their plants were at fault, rather than say being grown in toxic soil or being left to go mouldy and full of ecoli before being eaten.
- aaron695 6y agoTheir official statement is they don't know and it's also possible for the growing conditions to cause this. These seeds are probably worth $300 to them. They will destroy them and move on. I've seen no evidence it's even known to be the Zucchinis. This is a science issue and more boringly a public health issue. Like you say, what if it is the soil for instance.
- londons_explore 6y agoIf I were running this seed company, I would personally be driving to this customers house to taste the fruit for myself and dig up the plant. I'd document it all with pictures and video. While the seeds might only be worth $300, the reputational damage is huge, the lawsuits are big, and the chance of prison is very real. I'm totally wanting solid evidence to exonerate myself and my company if it exists. If I do find the fruit to be extremely bitter, it's probably best to use language like "as a precaution" in my press releases anyway...
- hinkley 6y agoSo my neighbors are trying to kill me. I knew those zucchini lovers were sketchy.
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- userbinator 6y agoI was taught that zucchinis and cucumbers should have their ends cut off and rubbed to make them less bitter. A quick search suggests that might be related to this, although opinions are inconclusive.
- mdani 6y agoI had the misfortune of eating one of these bitter Zucchini flowers. It was extremely bitter and I could not even swallow the single bite I took. But it was enough to make me sick for two days. I couldn't even drink plain water since it caused instant vomit and/or diarrhea. Those were some of the worst days I had ever been through. The plant was from my own backyard, but it was stressed due to some insect / squirrel eating many leaves and buds. Possibly that triggered the plant to make the toxins that keep predators away.
- pvaldes 6y agoMaybe you poisoned yourself trying to get rid of the bud eaters. Where you using a slugcide? EDIT... nah, I'm reading about the compound and could be perfectly the plant. Today I learned that the Cucurbitaceae make some of the most bitter substances known among vegetables, wow.
- ros86 6y agoDoes anyone know why sequencing is not used to QC such seeds before releasing them?
- pjc50 6y agoExpensive and hard to know what you're looking for?
- ros86 6y agoI'm wondering whether that's indeed the case. It seems that at least some genotype has been identified to cause such a phenotype (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/346/6213/1084 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/346/6213/1084). If you know what to look for it would just be a couple of bucks to Sanger sequence it. (Then you don't even have to sequence it by e.g. Illumina, which would still be just a couple of hundred bucks per batch). I don't know what margins they get for these kind of products, but I guess a recall will be quite expensive as well.
- miohtama 6y agoAre the harmful components from the seeds of parent plant or the newly grown plant?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- abridgett 6y agoThis can also happen with pumpkins FYI. Once poisoned my friends accidentally (it was a proper eating pumpkin not a carving pumpkin). Just a mouthful or two was enough.
- jw1224 6y agoThis being England, the title should of course say “courgettes”. Nobody calls them zucchinis over here!
- capableweb 6y agoThis actually being the internet, shouldn't the title use whatever is most commonly used in the world at large? Someone who knows the word courgette, probably knows the word zucchini. While someone who knows the word zucchini, might not know courgette. I certainly didn't know about courgette until just one minute ago.
- maps7 6y agoAnd I didn't know what a zucchini was until this year
- Dayshine 6y ago> Someone who knows the word courgette, probably knows the word zucchini. While someone who knows the word zucchini, might not know courgette. I don't see why this would be the case. More accurate would be: Someone who knows the word courgette, might not know the word zucchini. And someone who knows the word zucchini, might not know courgette.
- pvaldes 6y agoOr Cucurbita pepo pepo, the Intergalactic, planetary, planetary, term
- atomi 6y agoAll squash is native to Mesoamerica and Andes. Neither term is really correct. I believe the indigenous people of Mesoamerica called it chayotl. The Spanish, who were the first Europeans to come across squash call it calabaza - which is possibly derived from the persian word "kharbuz." But I really don't know why Americans use the Italian word for squash instead.
- 6y ago
- raincom 6y agoIt is known to subsistence farmers in Asia. Often times, they see cucumbers grown off of seeds that are not planted. They taste it for bitterness, then eat; otherwise, throw them out. This 'knowledge' is passed between, down, generations and people. Hobby farming doesn't have that.