Healthy: Star Fruit Can Kill Goes by another name....carambola

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Star Fruit Can Kill Goes by another name....carambola

This fruit can end your life!

We were advised to have a few servings of fruits a day in order to reap the benefits of fruits right? But obviously this is one big no-no fruit to be excluded from your fruity feast!


In Shenzen, more than 10 people who consumes the star fruit had died. And now a 66-year-old, Malaysian who has been suffering from kidney ailment fell into coma after eating the start fruits. Yes, all it takes is one fruit or 100ml of its juice and the ordinarily harmless star fruit transforms poison in a matter of hours for kidney patients. So does this mean, people without kidney problems should be fine with star fruit! My take: Not at all! Prevention is better right?


Universiti Malaya Medical Centre consultant nephrologist said that star fruits contain a neurotoxin which is not present in other fruits. It affects the brain and nerves. In healthy persons, the kidneys filter it out. But for those with kidney problems, this potent toxin cannot be removed and will worsen the consumers' conditions.


The symptoms of star fruit poisoning include:

~Hiccups

~Numbness and weakness

~Feeling confused ~Agitation

~Epileptic fist


The risk of death is high if you are having kidney ailments! But healthy individuals should beware of this fruit's potential toxin too. It could also cripple your vitality if you are not lucky. So don't take it for granted. It's better to avoid them.

2 comments:

yoyoadrienne said...

I was looking for starfruit recipes and found this. I love eating starfruit so I did a bit of reading. Here's what I found.

There's no need to stop eating starfruit unless you are a kidney dialysis patient or you have kidney problems.

The University of Malaysia blog post and subsequent comment by another doctor familiar with the case, indicated that they weren't sure what caused the deaths and suspected that the fertilizers used in China (the patients had recently immigrated from China)may have been the more likely culprit.

chiatak said...

Thanks for your comment!