Even lychee have a down side

12 Replies

[text]There seems to be a bumper crop of lychee this year, and bags of the fruit are being sold in supermarkets, along highways, and given away by friends lucky enough to have trees loaded with the tasty treats.

So did anyone else note the news reports earlier this year that fingered a lychee toxin for an illness hitting children in India “that kills many victims and leaves others brain damaged.”

The magazine, Science, reported:

Now, scientists believe they have unmasked the mystery culprit: a toxin in the lychee fruit. After a 2-year investigation, researchers suggest in the 30 January issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that the illness results from crashing blood sugar levels likely due to a lychee toxin known to cause hypoglycemia in rats.

Even the New York Times reported on it back in January, “Litchi Toxin May Have Caused Mysterious Epidemic in India, Inquiry Finds“).

Apparently there’s still not all that much known about the lychee toxin or how it works.

Hopefully this toxin isn’t found in the fruit here in Hawaii! At least, as far as I’ve been able to see, there haven’t been any reports of lychee illnesses here.

Any UH folks want to chime in here?

Just another thing to worry about!

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12 thoughts on “Even lychee have a down side”

  2. t

    SUMMARY
    1. (Methylenecyclopropyl)glycine has been newly characterized as a component of a higher plant being isolated from seeds of Litchi chinensis.
    2. (Methylenecyclopropyl)glycine was converted by catalytic hydrogenation in the presence of platinum oxide into a mixture of leucine, isoleucine, norleucine and two isomeric (methylcyclopropyl) glycines.
    3. The infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of the new compound supported the assigned structure.
    4. (Methylenecyclopropyl)glycine showed hypoglycaemic activity when injected subcutaneously into mice. No exact comparison of the hypoglycaemic activities of the new acid and its higher homologue, hypoglycin A, was made.

    Biochemical Journal,
    1962

    i love science. i do not love the everpresent USA culture of fear. Left and Right are equally guilty of silly Propaganda. it’s like living in a Cargo Cult.

    ignorance isn’t bliss. ask ISIS.

    Reply ↓
  3. Allen N.

    Hmmm, an epidemic associated with lychee that goes back only a mere 20 years ago (when compared to the known history of lychee cultivation that spans at least several centuries),… an epidemic that that annually flares up in India but nowhere else (not even in China, the world’s leading lychee producer),… an epidemic that is mostly concentrated in the districts of India where large scale production of lychee is an important cog in the local economy,…

    Doesn’t sound like anything is wrong with lychee itself. When the “experts” get to the bottom of the cause, the toxins responsible for the illness will be traced to something that humans have done to the fruit in order to increase profits.

    Reply ↓
  4. t

    leading horse to water, leading horse to water:

    http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6403a1.htm?s_cid=mm6403a1_w

    Primary Reference:
    Gray DO, Fowden L. alpha-(methylenecyclopropyl)glycine from litchi seeds. Biochemical Journal, 1962
    SUMMARY
    1. (Methylenecyclopropyl)glycine has been newly characterized as a component of a higher plant being isolated from seeds of Litchi chinensis.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1243468/?page=1

    mongering, mongering, mongering, mongering, mongering, mongering, mongering………..

    Reply ↓
  6. Keith

    Geez taking all the fun out of eating lychee right before the season starts. Next we are going to find out mango makes people’s hair fall out.

    Reply ↓
  9. t

    original studies about the exact same issue were conducted more than 50 years ago. (Nuclear bombs did it!) Corporate America is secretly hiding alien robots inside your coconuts, but your lychees are perfectly fine.

    in short, lychee seeds are toxic. this is nothing new. kids who are getting sick are eating the lychee seeds. ergo, if you don’t want a lychee fruit epidemic, just don’t eat the fucking lychee seeds. and you’ll be fine. if you are still scared, I can provide you a intergalactic insurance policy that ensures you will be safe when aliens from planet DrateR visit earth. the cost is only $10 million. cash only. and don’t let your little babies leave their bedrooms until age 35 or your insurance policy is invalid. you also have to buy a new Volvo every year. and don’t talk to strangers, especially if they are smiling. frowning at all times is better.

    “Although a specific etiology has not yet been determined, the 2014 investigation has identified the illness as a hypoglycemic encephalopathy and confirmed the importance of ongoing laboratory evaluation of environmental toxins to identify a potential causative agent, including markers for methylenecyclopropylglycine (MCPG), a compound found in litchi seeds known to cause hypoglycemia in animal studies (1–3). Current public health recommendations are focused on reducing mortality by urging affected families to seek prompt medical care, and ensuring rapid assessment and correction of hypoglycemia in ill children.”
    SOURCE:
    http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6403a1.htm?s_cid=mm6403a1_w

    if you are still chickenshit about the pro-GMO demons who are running the CDC, here is the original lychee Study:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1243468/?page=1
    Biochemical Journal, 1962

    study was conducted in London. the pro-GMO zombie demons didn’t take over London until 1992.

    Reply ↓
  12. t

    Helen T, that is absolutely brilliant. cheers. lychee thieves would have trouble reading it, but that is still brilliant.

    Reply ↓

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