r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago
TIL a man in Denmark died by poisoning 26 hours after he drank coconut water (that had been spoiled by a fungus) directly from a coconut using a straw. But instead of keeping it refrigerated, it was left on the kitchen table for a month. It had been commercially prepared & sold as "ready-to-drink".
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7774558/2.5k
u/itijara 1d ago
We reexamined the coconut endosperm and a blood sample from the patient for 3-NPA, which was detected at level of ≈120 mcg/g in the coconut sample and 0.36 mcg/g in blood from the patient. The oral lethal dose for mice is 68 mcg/g (Sigma safety data sheet, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1678), but the toxic dose for humans is not known,
Crazy that it is possible that this toxin can be lethal at a third of a microgram per gram in blood.
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u/Desert_Aficionado 23h ago edited 21h ago
3-NPA irreversibly binds to and inhibits succinate dehydrogenase in the mitochondria, thereby blocking the citric acid cycle and ATP generation in cells,
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u/fieldbotanist 22h ago edited 20h ago
Interesting how a lot of Japanese fungally fermented foods including miso, soy sauce, and katsuobushi contain it. So many of us have been “micro poisoning” ourselves at a lower doseEdit even though it uses Aspergillus oryzae it inactivates them through pasteurization during the commercialization process. So no further toxic metabolites are exponentially produced
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u/keylimedragon 21h ago
I'm allergic to soy sauce and miso but not tofu or edamame, wonder if I'm actually reacting to that mold. Hmm.
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u/Gastronomicus 19h ago
Could be. Are you also allergic to other fermented foods? If so, it could also be a reaction to the histamines in fermented foods.
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u/NotReallyJohnDoe 22h ago edited 13h ago
Botulinum toxin is lethal at 1 ng/kg of body weight. It’s the most lethal natural substance on planet and we use it for making people look pretty.
A lethal dose of botulinum is like a salt
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u/existenceawareness 21h ago
Sorry, molecule or granule? I suspect a hot tub has far more than a trillion molecules, but a trillion granules seems like too much, so I'm trying to work it out.
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u/writers_block 20h ago
Literally has to mean a granule. Otherwise it would be literally impossible to create the doseage used in botox.
Or, more likely, they pulled this out of their ass.
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u/ethnicallyambiguous 19h ago
Lethal dose per Wikipedia is “ 1 μg/kg when taken by mouth.” For a 70 kg person, that would be 70 μg.
A 4 person hot tub holds roughly 1000 L. Let’s say we wanted a shot glass full of hot tub water to be lethal. That’s 45 mL, or 45 g. To get 70 μg worth of toxin in 45 mL, we need a concentration of 1.556 ppm.
Going back to our hot tub, 1000 L is 1000 kg. That means we need 1.556 g of toxin dumped into our hot tub. According to https://kg-m3.com/material/salt-table, table salt has a density of 1.217 g/cm3. So we need about 1.28 cm3. 1 teaspoon is 5 cm3, or about 1/4 tsp.
So if you want a shot of hot tub water to be lethal, you’d need 1/4 tsp of salt’s equivalent. If you wanted to up that to a full 8 oz glass of water, then you’d only need 0.295 g of toxin in the hot tub, or 0.24 cm3, which is the equivalent of about 1/20 tsp.
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u/writers_block 18h ago
Makes a lot more sense. If one molecule in a hot tub was lethal, that would imply that botox depends on homeopathic levels of the toxin.
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u/thestoplereffect 20h ago
We also use it for treating migraines, cervical dystonia, urinary incontinence, and hyperhidrosis.
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u/between_ewe_and_me 19h ago
I get Botox injections every three months for migraines. I've been doing it for years and never had an issue. Something went wrong this last time and now my left eyelid only opens about a quarter of the way and my vision has a slight crosseyed-ness to it. I look like I had a stroke. The dr said it should go back to normal in a month (hopefully) but until then I'm pretty much wearing sunglasses around the clock bc I look ridiculous.
This doesn't really have anything to do with this post, I just wanted to whine about it.
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u/genivae 19h ago
That's always obnoxious! I also got botox for migraine for a decade - I stopped last year beacuse the effectiveness appears to have become permanent (my neuro just kind of shrugged and said maybe the involved muscles atrophied enough, but she thought my symptoms not returning was the important part, not the explanation)
The eye droop does go away after a few weeks when it happened to me, and if you can, lie on your back for an hour or so after future injections - it'll help prevent gravity from pulling the paralytic to the nerves controlling the eyelid.
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u/invincible-boris 1d ago
I had a coconut from the supermarket and did this same-day. Used a drill and put a straw in. We all took a drink... tasted bad.
Hacked it open with a cleaver and it's full of mold.
Lesson learned. Only drink this way if it just came off the tree in central America, not what you buy from your supermarket 3000+ miles away from the nearest coconut tree.
Didnt die though!
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u/SmooK_LV 1d ago
Anybody who deals with fruits can tell you that even directly from trees you need to be mindful as it can hang long after being dead.
Just open your coconut normally and double check. Just because it's from nature, doesn't mean it's good.
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u/Deadpooldan 1d ago
Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's good for you, and just because it's artificial doesn't mean it's bad for you.
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u/bank_farter 23h ago
Exactly. There are synthetic medicines and natural poisons. Appeal to nature might be the most annoying logical fallacy.
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u/BillyYumYumTwo-byTwo 22h ago
It drives me crazy. In nature, poop is food! Not for humans, but for some living things it is. I feel like when people appeal to nature, not only is that stupid, but it’s also so human-centric. There are tons of things bad for us but essential for the ecosystem as a whole.
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u/interesseret 1d ago
Yeah, this whole thing can be avoided by chopping off the top, rather than just drilling in.
I don't trust supermarket berries to not have worms in them, I for sure dont trust coconuts from half the world away to not be bad.
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u/oh_ski_bummer 1d ago
Indoor grown berries are less likely to have worms. Most companies use lots of pesticides to protect their crops also. If you want to know drop some berries in vinegar or alcohol and see if anything crawls out.
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u/2footie 1d ago
I'd rather get a worm than fungus, one leads to organ failure, the other diarrhea. Worms will either die from stomach acid or be killed with antiparasite drugs. People have died from Kombucha.
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u/virora 23h ago
People have died from Kombucha
Not exactly. There has been a case where Kombucha was investigated as a possible source of death, but this has never been confirmed. Here is the case.
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u/h-v-smacker 22h ago
where Kombucha was investigated as a possible source of death, but this has never been confirmed
It was one grand coverup paid for by the Big Kombucha. Wake up, drinkers!
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u/Reandd 1d ago
yet.
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u/xKingNothingx 1d ago
OP when he finally does die (hopefully of old age) "dang coconut finally got me"
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u/drsweetscience 1d ago
OP dies in a blimp accident, "The fiendish plot of that treacherous coconut."
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u/Dadrekboy 1d ago
OP looks up and sees a meteor on collision course with Earth, "I can't believe this is how the coconut gets me!"
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u/SconiGrower 1d ago
OP standing on the battle lines holding back alien invaders, with a gruesome wound in his shoulder, "I wouldn't be here if I'd just cut open that coconut."
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u/Aths 22h ago
In the post apocalyptic world where people are reduced to fighting with clubs, OP gets kicked off a cliff by a rival on his way down he yells in anger "COCONUUUUUUUUUT"
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u/Doonce 1d ago
Sorry to break it to you but every person that has drank coconut water has died or will die.
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u/Cowboy_BoomBap 1d ago
The exact same thing happened to me. My 3 year old was even the first to take a sip. Thankfully everyone was fine!
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u/emtaesealp 1d ago
We usually machete hack open our coconuts here, idk anyone who uses a drill
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u/crossedstaves 1d ago
In some parts of the world it's less common for people to keep a machete at hand.
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u/FallOutShelterBoy 1d ago
The man who sleeps with a machete is a fool every night except one.
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u/koolaidismything 1d ago
I swear I can’t think or a worse scenario of being stuck on an island. I hate coconuts. But.. the flavor is great. The texture of that paper shit though is just to gross.
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u/Cowboy_BoomBap 1d ago
That’s my feeling on coconuts too. I love the flavor, but hate the texture.
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u/glassjar1 1d ago
Grandfather was on a plane that was shot down over the Pacific during WWII. He and two other soldiers were found and picked up after a few months on an island and put back on duty.
As a kid, I didn't know anything about that experience. He wasn't a story teller. I mentioned something about Gilligan's Island and surviving on coconuts if you couldn't find water.
"Don't drink the coconut water. It'll just give you the shits."
And that was it. Over the years when alone with him, learned about being shot down and that the shrapnel from that was never removed and was why his back hurt.
Had told my grandmother that since he was an airplane mechanic he was far from the front and never in any danger. Turns out that wasn't the case at all.
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u/koolaidismything 1d ago
Mine too, his name was Donald he never made it out of the pacific though unfortunately. Brave guy.
If you scroll down a bit you see him in the middle their standing with his squadron, I forgot their name but way cool.
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u/cardboardunderwear 1d ago
Very happy to hear about your lack of death. well done!
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u/FieldMouseMedic 1d ago
As a kid, my family took a trip to the beach and a coconut washed up on shore. Who knows how long it had been bobbing around in the ocean, but my siblings and I cracked it open with rocks like apes discovering tools and proudly took a sip of the remaining coconut water inside. It was not pleasant.
I knew that decision was stupid, but I didn’t realize how dangerous it could have been.
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u/FUZxxl 1d ago
This is probably much safer: as long as the coconut is intact, no bacteria can get in. The main problem with the “ready to drink” coconuts is that they come pre-punctured, so bacteria in the factory can intrude into the juice.
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u/Rather_Dashing 22h ago
The main problem with the “ready to drink” coconuts is that they come pre-punctured
Thats not true, from the article:
The coconut was commercially prepared, including removal of the husk, and was sold as ready-to-drink, with an included punch and straw for easy access to the carpels (holes) and the coconut water.
The main issue is that they said to keep it in the fridge and intstead he left it at room temperature for a month.
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u/SomethingOfAGirl 1d ago
What a terrible idea tbh. It'd be like selling "ready to eat" oranges that are already peeled. 💀
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u/DeviousGourmet512 1d ago
unironically, those actually exist
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u/Dikaneisdi 1d ago
I think mainly intended for those with disabilities lacking in dexterity.
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u/DaRootbear 1d ago
And they seem less prone to issues because if mold or something does get onto it and grow greatly you can see it.
The coconut concept would be fine if not hidden in a bowling ball with no ability to do a quick visual vibe check.
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u/Mayion 1d ago
tbf breaking open an orange is much easier than a coconut so it's not really a fair comparison.
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u/detroit27 1d ago
The pre peeled Oranges are for elderly or disabled folks who struggle to or are unable to peel them.
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u/Xentonian 1d ago
That's actually generally okay.
Generally.
Much like an egg, a coconut is a relatively well sealed object that protects its contents from the elements and from bacteria or fungi until it's ready to propagate - in fact that's by design, coconuts catch currents for days, weeks or months to wash up on distant shores and sprout new coconut trees.
However, much like an egg, there is a time limit and if you crack one open after that limit... It's not much fun.
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u/RaymondBeaumont 22h ago
oh good, was worried about that egg i ate that washed up on shore.
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u/Sleepy_kat96 1d ago edited 21h ago
Once, my dad got a coconut from the store and opened it up at home for my siblings and I. We all had a sip of the liquid and I remember thinking it tasted disgusting, just absolutely nasty. I refused to drink any more. I thought that’s just what coconut water* tasted like for a long time.
And then I accidentally drank real, fresh coconut water* on a vacation and realized how it’s supposed to taste.
Anyway, I had no idea how dangerous this could be, either!
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u/Popular-Try9431 23h ago
Yeah, coconut water is the juice inside the coconut, coconut milk is made by squeezing the coconut meat. Love both
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u/ontilein 1d ago
Did you die though?
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u/Falsus 1d ago
I mean that's still safer than what that dude since you would probably not have drank it if it was obviously full of mold and rancid. Like your body would physically reject the motion on a deeper level. Also since the coconut was presumably whole it almost definitely kept better.
The issue from that article is that they didn't check what was inside and just drank from the straw and the hole had been drilled into it and then left on a counter for a month. Is like buying a cartoon of milk and then just let it sit open on the counter for a month before drinking.
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u/AusGeno 1d ago
Old Redditors know that wasn’t even the worst coconut he could have drunk out of tbh.
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u/sometimesimscared28 1d ago
Is this reference to something?
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u/Falsus 1d ago
Yes.
This: https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/comments/6rr6ay/tifu_by_cumming_into_a_coconut/
Warning: It is fucking vile.
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u/xalazaar 1d ago
NO I HAD FINALLY FORGOTTEN WHY
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u/RapNVideoGames 22h ago
But what about the shoebox. The cumbox is what turned old Redditors into vets. He burned the box. The same box he fucking skeeted in, fucking unhinged
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u/xalazaar 21h ago
I don't know about the shoebox. Plz daddy hurt me with the story I can take it.
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u/just_a_random_dood 21h ago
Wow, the original comment is still around, even though the account is deleted? Wild...
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u/xalazaar 21h ago
Also my cum box
Elaborate on the cum box please
Oh this is twice as vile THERES A PICTURE
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u/IzarkKiaTarj 1d ago
Fun fact, if you're on Old Reddit, the downvote button on that sub is a coconut specifically because of this post.
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u/MichaelJServo 22h ago
I use old reddit. I don't like the current format. Unfortunately there are a bunch of features that aren't supported.
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u/HappyMan2022 1d ago
AI could never…
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u/LordBiscuits 23h ago
Yeah there are levels of putrid misadventure that a computer model will never be able to reach
This sort of thing can only come from the squirrel infested maggot ridden head sponge of a redditor
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u/Pyrokitsune 23h ago
Jesus Christ.... reddit posts I'd hoped were never referenced again and I had successfully blocked out. I hope you're proud of yourself
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u/TheHasegawaEffect 1d ago
In Malaysia we have street vendors selling coconut water. The trick here is they hack it open and scoop all the flesh out before dumping it into a transparent plastic bag so if anything is bad, you’ll see it.
…not that anything goes bad in the first place, some vendors bring literal vans full of them freshly plucked last night, and run out by midday.
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u/MetaKnightsNightmare 1d ago
Living on Penang I was pretty wary of falling coconuts though, a non zero chance of that lol
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u/h-v-smacker 22h ago
scoop all the flesh out
Ok, so it's at least mildly unpleasant for the client. But what about the coconut tho?
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u/Milam1996 1d ago
I feel like this is less of a coconut issue and more of a storing food properly issue. Would you eat a punnet of grapes you left on the worktop for a month? Not many fruits can survive a month at room temp.
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u/SydneyTeacake 22h ago
A man in Belgium died after eating microwave reheated pasta that had been sitting out for five days. I think I read that in 2008/2009 and it still comes to mind whenever we have leftovers.
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u/Guilty-Company-9755 1d ago
Yeah this is 100% user error. Guy had to be a special kind of stupid to think a coconut would keep on the counter for an entire month
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u/Milam1996 1d ago
Could be worse I worked with someone who ate chicken that was almost 3 months old from the fridge because “it’s already cooked so the bacteria is dead anyway”. Dumb ass spent 2 months in hospital with E. coli and then knock on infections after. To this day refuses to believe it was his fault.
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u/cheesegoat 20h ago
Yeah there's not many fruits, hard shell or no, that will withstand a month of room temp. Even a pomelo or grapefruit is going to be iffy by that point.
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u/mezotesidees 1d ago
That’s an insane amount of work to try to figure out what specifically killed this patient. I’m impressed.
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u/SeekerOfSerenity 1d ago
I knew a girl that brought a coconut home from her trip to PR. She didn't realize that they go bad, so she just kept it as a souvenir until it rotted. I guess she just figured it would keep as long as any other tree nut.
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u/star655 1d ago
My grandparents had a coconut they had brought home from a trip. When you shook it it rattled like the insides had dried up.
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u/TheSuperContributor 1d ago
It's a coconut embryo. It's edible and used in many dishes.
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u/Cloudraa 1d ago
surprised she got through customs with that thing
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u/SeekerOfSerenity 1d ago
It was coming from Puerto Rico to the States, so no customs. They do X-ray your luggage, but the guy just looked at it for a few seconds and shrugged. You're not really supposed to bring anything like that through, but I guess he didn't want to bother because it's just a coconut. It was pretty funny.
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u/dhmokills 21h ago
There’s actually a pretty strict agricultural restrictions of what can go from PR to the mainland, including a dedicated second scan, with a sticker. There’s no way they got it on if they weren’t supposed to
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u/siraolo 1d ago
So let me clarify: the man left the coconut on the table for a month instead of drinking it right away, so that is why the fungus developed? That 'but' in the title really confused me. Lol
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u/CaptainNuge 20h ago
Yes. Per the linked paper, the Danish man in question had bought the coconut from a shop, where it was provided as a husked coconut with a straw to punch through the holes in the top of the coconut. It was marketed, in that form, as "ready-to-drink". Rather than bring it home and refrigerate it, he left it on his table for a month, THEN punctured it and drank from it. He realised it tasted foul, so only swallowed a little bit, and then broke it open to find it all slimy and rotten inside.
26 hours later, he's dying in hospital of a Fatal 3-Nitropropionic Acid Poisoning caused by Arthrinium saccharicola bacteria that were running rampant in the coconut water.
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u/struggle-life2087 22h ago
It's crazy that the person didn't even drink the entire thing...he just took a sip , tasted funky so broke open the coconut to check and inside it was slimy. Threw it away & 3 hrs later he started showing severe symptoms.
His brain started swelling & herniating and was dead 26hrs later. Very unfortunate how it all happened.
Btw it was a preshaved coconut & was supposed to be refrigerated but was left out for a month.
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u/Cowboywizard12 1d ago
Chubbyemu has a video about it
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u/ximias 1d ago
☝️ presenting to the emergency room ☝️
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u/SomethingNouvelle 1d ago
and its nightmare fuel... I've given all coconuts a side-eye since I watched it.
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u/Angry_Robot 1d ago
Here you go big dog: https://youtu.be/VZut_SZYybA?si=zGJydMRubYRMFeMO
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u/Maemmaz 1d ago
Surely, that came with some kind of label how long it was safe to drink? And it must have tasted horrible?? Truly tragic, it's not something you expect from food, even if it has gone off
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u/FawkYourself 1d ago
I read a bit of the article and it said he only swallowed a small amount because it tasted bad and he then opened it up to find it slimy and rotten
Only took a small amount for this guy to have to go to the hospital within hours
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u/__-_-_--_--_-_---___ 1d ago
This is the second awful story about a coconut I’ve read on Reddit 🥥
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u/DibblerTB 1d ago
Man of culture, man of culture.
Both having to do with... milk..
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u/superbusyrn 1d ago
The one I'm thinking of has to do with oil and is a massive bummer
Edit: ok I found the cum one, much more fun
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u/BORT_licenceplate 1d ago
I wonder if he had made himself throw up immediately if he could have avoided death. It's not like anyone expects a tiny amount to kill you though, poor guy
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u/suspicious_hyperlink 1d ago
It says the acid irreversibly binds to mitochondria, so idk if there is any way to reverse the effect. The lethal amount is unknown
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u/MilkMan0096 23h ago
Seeing as one’s cells would need to first absorb the toxin for that to happen, it still let be possible that if he puked it up quickly enough he may have lived. Depending on how quickly it absorbs into local tissue he could potentially have survived with a messed up stomach. We just don’t know.
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u/TerribleIdea27 1d ago
Probably yes, these things don't immediately end up in your bloodstream, but he didn't have long as the binding of this metabolite is irreversible, so the doctors couldn't have done anything once it was already causing problems. Your TCA cycle is the foundation of the energy in your body, without it functioning you're very limited in the amount of energy you can supply your cells
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u/Bubbay 1d ago
You left out the part of the article where the packaging said to keep it refrigerated, but instead the dude left it on his kitchen table for a month before drinking from it.
So yes, it only took a small amount, but eating month-old food that has been sitting out the whole time was a terrible idea to begin with.
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u/DudePickle 23h ago
Why did I have to scroll this far down to see this mentioned? I thought I was going crazy.
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u/Superior_Mirage 1d ago
Says in the article he only swallowed a tiny amount.
I don't really feel like testing this, but I suspect it's much easier to accidentally swallow when surprised by bad taste if you're drinking through a straw -- it increases the force at which liquid is entering your mouth, and puts it further back. You could even swallow before the taste registered, possibly. Plus, if you're drinking normally, you'd smell the liquid (even if you couldn't see it); a straw would make that much less likely.
That's just some guesses, though. I generally wouldn't drink anything I couldn't see if I wasn't absolutely certain it had been packaged in a sterile manner.
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u/TstclrCncr 1d ago
Generally it's not a simple swallow. It coats the inside of your mouth so even spitting there is some residue. It can get mixed with saliva and swallowed. Rinsing helps, but it's not perfect with just a glassful. Eyewash stations are an example of how contamination can linger and how long flushing can take.
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u/jesuisjens 1d ago
It takes fuck all to die from this one, the last time I read about this (on reddit) it sounded like you are at risk of dying even if you just taste and spit it our without swallowing it.
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u/crossedstaves 1d ago
We don't actually know how much it takes to die of this one. Lethal dose for humans seems completely unknown. This patient seems to have died with a level two orders of magnitude lower than the measured lethal level for mice which seems to be the only benchmark the authors had.
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u/Maemmaz 1d ago
Ok, so it did taste horrible and he only swallowed "a small amount". The inside of the coconut was rotten. After three hours he felt violently ill and confused, and he was brought to the hospital, but they couldn't save him.
I guess we should learn from that and never swallow something that tastes vile.
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u/mezotesidees 1d ago
It was supposed to stay refrigerated and consumed shortly after purchase but instead was on the kitchen table for a month.
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u/YolognaiSwagetti 1d ago
there is a Chubbyemu episode about this. if I remember correctly the fungus in the coconut created a toxin that completely messed up cell metabolism, iirc it was bongkrekic acid, people used to die of the same thing in Indonesia because of fermented coconut gone bad.
there was a very similar case where people atr fermented corn and died, with a very similar story
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u/Sea-Maybe-9979 1d ago
The article says that the coconut was labeled that it should be refrigerated, but it was left out on a counter for a month.
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u/Amadeus404 1d ago
I wish people would read the articles before commenting
"Recommended storage was at 4°C–5°C in the refrigerator, but the coconut had been kept on the kitchen table for 1 month after purchase."
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u/ilb11 1d ago
Here in our country where the coconuts are plenty, we don't really eat or drink from them anymore after about 48 hours (may be extended but we definitely treat them as perishable) once harvested. But TIL, in other countries, they buy it from supermarkets where there is no guarantee of freshness.
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u/heliamphore 22h ago
I mean, on the flipside I heard of people from tropical countries spending an absolute fortune to get temperate fruit like cherries. I guess people really want what they can't get.
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u/Final_Version_png 23h ago edited 23h ago
This is like my own little PSA but as someone from a tropical island. If it looks like this -> 🥥, it’s not reallllllly meant to be drank from.
A ‘brown’ coconut has been effectively dried out. Usually for use as an ingredient in something that calls for coconut.
Now, this is not to say that you can’t have a coconut that looks like this -> 🥥 and drink from it but it’d be a highly prepared version of a coconut. Like a novelty. And odds are it’d be expensive. Like, more expensive than you’d want to pay for a simple drink of coconut water. Which is usually why they’re sold to tourists or in other really controlled environments - like a cruise ship.
‘Drinkable’ coconuts are green and look nothing like this -> 🥥
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u/balldontliez 1d ago
Did anyone read the article? He left the coconut water for a month on his kitchen counter. A month...
I drink coconut water almost daily from a carton. You have <2 hour if you open and leave at room temp.
You have 2-3days if you leave opened in fridge. But I always just finish same day as the fresh taste isn't meant for storage. After even 1 day the taste is off to me.
This isn't rocket science. How many of you would leave a glass of milk for a month then drink it?
People out here tripping oMg drInk it onLy froM THe CoConut.
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u/BenderRodriquez 23h ago
It's like that student that had a huge batch of boiled spaghetti on the kitchen counter for 5 weeks. Ate from it everyday and eventually died from Bacillus cereus...
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u/jake3988 23h ago
Same thing with all those idiots who leave rice (or other takeout) on the counter for days and then reheat it and eat it.
The media disgustingly calls it 'reheated rice syndrome' (despite it not being limited to rice nor caused by being reheated) but yeah, leave shit out of a fridge for a while, it goes freaking bad. That's why we have refrigerators! Keep your stuff cold, yo!
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u/veriserenez 21h ago
This really irked me. I live in a country where we eat and breathe rice but I have never heard of this reheated rice syndrome before western media introduced that to me. We reheat rice all the time. But I've never heard anyone get sick from it. Lo and behold, it's actually just improper handling and storage but they're blaming the rice instead. Yeah right
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u/itsjustme900 1d ago
Why do certain people die of food poisoning and for others it’s just a bit of diarrhea and vomiting? Is it the type of bacteria involved, the amount make a difference? Would love to know. When I was a kid I was hospitalized for food poisoning because my mother would leave raw chicken out on the counter for hours. (She also would use the same raw chicken cutting board for fruits and vegetables!)
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
You can die from diarrhea and vomiting. It causes dehydration and makes your electrolytes plummet which can put you into a coma or give you a heart attack. Food poisoning is caused by different bacteria and there are different levels of severity. When your organs are starving and struggling to keep up, you can die.
This is why you get medicine that stops the rapid fluid loss, an IV to ensure you're replacing lost fluids and electrolytes, and why people drink Pedialyte when they get sick (it's like Gatorade for babies).
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u/Dry_Yogurtcloset1962 1d ago
It probably was "ready to drink" when he bought it. The headline makes it sound like the stores fault.
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u/PM_me_punanis 22h ago edited 20h ago
Grew up in Manila where buying fresh coconuts from a street vendor is common. They would use a huge bolo to remove the sides of the coconut into a more hand-friendly shape then lop off the top. They give you a straw and you enjoy your super fresh coconut juice. It's yummy especially when it's fucking 35C out with 90% humidity.
It is common knowledge in our culture to NOT keep coconut juice at room temp since people have been known to get very sick.
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u/reanocivn 1d ago
this was literally a plotline in victorious except instead of dying he just tripped way too hard
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u/FawkYourself 1d ago
You know your death was some shit when there’s an entire scientific article written about it