Hidden dangers in 5 common foods

Some foods we eat every day are dangerous to our health – not in the sense that "eating too much is harmful," but because most of them contain toxins.

Beans

Considered a healthy food, beans are used in salads, sticky rice dishes, and desserts. They are also often favored in diets because they are packed with nutrients, including fiber, protein, carbohydrates, folate, and iron. But – as part of their natural defense mechanism – beans also contain a significant amount of lectins – proteins that act as a kind of pesticide – at least in plants. For humans, this means that eating too many beans can make us sick.

For example, broad beans contain the toxin phytohaemagglutinin, which can cause severe nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea within 3 hours. While boiling beans for at least 10 minutes neutralizes the toxin, cooking them without boiling will make them even more toxic. For safety, it's probably best to eat canned beans rather than packaged beans.

Almond

Often considered a hard-shelled nut, almonds are actually nuts, and many raw almonds aren't actually raw. That's because raw almonds contain cyanide—a notorious poison. In fact, cyanide has been described as having a "bitter almond" smell.

Crushing, biting, chewing, or manipulating almonds in any way will activate cyanide. Eating just 4-5 bitter almonds can cause dizziness, nausea, and abdominal pain, according to a 1982 study on a 67-year-old woman. Unaware of the effects of bitter almonds, she ate more than 12 and experienced severe abdominal pain for 15 minutes, collapsing in the bathroom. Although she was saved, she nearly died at one point.

Although bitter almonds are banned in the US – sweet almonds are preferred instead as a safer alternative – many other countries do not have this regulation. It might be safer to avoid eating almonds abroad.

Apples, cherries, peaches, and plums

Also for cyanide reasons, it's probably best to avoid eating the pits of apples, cherries, peaches, plums, and apricots. Like almonds, the pits or seeds of these fruits contain cyanide, and this poison is activated when the pits are crushed, chewed, or otherwise handled.

While swallowing a whole seed might not cause any reaction, swallowing many seeds could. It seems that eating an entire apple whole isn't good for your health.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a commonly used ingredient in cakes, jams, and salads. However, the green leaves at the top of the rhubarb plant are full of oxalic acid and anthraquinone glycosides. While not fatal, these substances can cause some side effects, such as dizziness, burning mouth, stomach pain, and in severe cases, kidney stones, seizures, and coma.

While it's easy to avoid eating the leaves, care should be taken when disposing of them because pets could ingest them and become poisoned.

Potato

Like rhubarb, French fries are a favorite food for many. The green color on potatoes and potato sprouts contains solanine, a highly toxic substance even in small amounts. While regular potatoes are fine, those with green skin or that are rotten should be discarded. The effects of solanine include delirium, diarrhea, fever, and in severe cases, hallucinations, hypothermia, shock, and paralysis.

According to dantri.com