Risk of blindness from eating undercooked frog meat.

Frog meat is considered a delicious and nutritious dish. However, eating undercooked frog meat can cause blindness.

Health benefits of frog meat

Frogs are commonly found in rice fields and swamps and are known by many different names. The Vietnamese field frog has the scientific name Rana tigrina and some other names such as field frog, field chicken, long-necked frog, and green chicken.

Frog meat is rich in nutrients. 100g of frog meat contains 75g of water, 20g of protein, 1.1g of lipids, 3.9g of ash, 22mg of calcium, 159mg of phosphorus, 1.3mg of iron, 0.04mg of vitamin B1, 0.22mg of vitamin B12, 2.1mg of vitamin PP... providing the body with approximately 92kcal.

Frog meat has long been known for its many medicinal benefits and is very good for health. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, frog meat is known for its sweet taste, cooling nature, and non-toxic properties. It is nourishing, invigorating, promotes pregnancy, acts as a diuretic, treats infantile malnutrition, fever, weakness, and itching. It helps the body stay healthy, improves appetite and sleep, and promotes weight gain.

Eating undercooked frog meat can cause blindness. (Illustrative image.)

In folk medicine, frogs are often used in cases including children with rickets, malnutrition; children who suffer from heat rash, boils, itching, crying, and restless sleep in the summer; women after childbirth with edema, poor health, and yellowish skin; patients with chronic pulmonary tuberculosis or mouth and throat ulcers caused by heat, and inflammatory skin diseases with swelling and pain.

Risk of blindness from eating undercooked frog meat.

According to research documents, because frogs live in rice fields, the rate of frogs carrying parasitic larvae in Vietnam is as high as 75%.

According to the newspaper Gia Dinh va Xa Hoi (Family and Society), Dr. Le Thi Tuyet Phuong, from People's Hospital 115, stated that a type of toxic parasitic larva found in frog meat, called the spiny-headed worm, after entering the stomach, will penetrate the stomach wall and travel throughout the body.

Wherever these larvae migrate, they secrete fluid that causes inflammation and necrosis in that area. Therefore, patients will experience sharp, even tearing pain in the corresponding organs. If the larvae migrate to the skin, they form lumps that can be felt under the skin, move around quickly, and disappear rapidly; sometimes there is swelling, redness, and itching in multiple areas, leading to misdiagnosis as a skin allergy.

The most dangerous aspect of these larvae is their ability to burrow into the eyes, liver, lungs, and abdominal cavity, causing redness, swelling, and bleeding in the eyes, and in severe cases, blindness. Additionally, if they burrow into other organs such as the liver or lungs, they can cause liver pain, pneumonia, pleural effusion, abdominal pain, digestive disorders, and acute pancreatitis.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, advises that people should also limit their consumption of frog meat because frogs mainly live in rice fields and are easily infected with disease-causing parasites from the polluted environment. If consumed, great care must be taken during preparation and the meat must be thoroughly cooked.

According to VnExpress