Eating too many Brazil nuts could trigger a host of alarming health problems, a leading dietician has revealed.
Abbey Sharp took to her social media channels to state that “this is not a drill folks…very few people know about this but (eating too many of them) can be deadly.”
Canadian Sharp, 37, who has two million followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, said the main concern was selenium.
The mineral helps fertility and metabolism and is found in a variety of foods such as eggs, fish, mushrooms and turkey, but Brazil nuts are by far the richest source.
Just 1 ounce (six to eight) of Brazil nuts contain about 1,000 percent of the recommended daily amount of selenium, meaning it’s very easy to overdose, according to Ms. Sharp.
“The upper limit of selenium is 400 micrograms and it only takes seven nuts to cross that threshold,” he added. “And obviously much less for a child.”
In the post, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times on Instagram alone, he lists the disadvantages of consuming excessive amounts of selenium.
‘Symptoms of toxicity can range from foul, garlicky breath, diarrhea and brittle nails, to life-threatening symptoms such as kidney and heart failure.
Dietitian Abbey Sharp took to her social media channels to state that “this is not a drill, folks… very few people know about this, but (eating too many Brazil nuts) can be deadly.”
Canadian Sharp, 37, who has two million followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, said the main concern was selenium.
‘I think Brazil nuts should be sold with a clear warning on the front and should be treated more like a supplement than a snack.
“So let’s stick with the holiday peanut mix and keep those Brazil nuts in the cabinet where they belong.”
The US National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements provides detailed advice on selenium.
It states that “you can get the recommended amounts of selenium by eating a variety of foods, including seafood, meats, poultry, eggs and dairy products, breads, cereals and other grain products.”
Studies suggest that people who consume lower amounts of selenium may have a higher risk of developing a variety of cancers, but the guide warns: ‘WIt is not clear whether selenium supplements reduce the risk of cancer.
Under the subtitle ‘Can selenium be harmful? He says, ‘Yes, if you get too much. Brazil nuts, for example, contain very high amounts of selenium and can put you over the upper limit if you eat too many.
“Extremely high selenium intake can cause serious problems, such as difficulty breathing, tremors, kidney failure, heart attacks, and heart failure.”
Other experts have suggested that it is safe to limit consumption of Brazil nuts to two or five per day.
“I think Brazil nuts should be sold with a clear warning on the front and should be treated more like a supplement than a snack,” Ms Sharp said.
In 2006, a 75-year-old Australian man died after consuming a large amount of selenium supplements.
According to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia, he was concerned about prostate cancer and read online that selenium played a role in preventing the disease.
In a review of a 2020 study, experts at Denmark’s National Research Center for the Work Environment described a number of cases of serious illness and death due to selenium poisoning.
All of the patients had ingested a liquid chemical called weapons bluing agent, which is primarily used to color metals, such as those from which weapons are made, black.
It contains selenium dioxide, which is produced by burning selenium.
Brazil nuts do not contain this form of selenium and the deaths are not related to Brazil nut consumption.
However, they serve as a stark warning about how toxic very large amounts of selenium can be.
The reports included a 24-year-old man and two women, one 40 and the other 54, who suffered fatal cardiac arrest just hours after ingesting the weapons blueing agent.
The National Institutes of Health states that “you can get recommended amounts of selenium by eating a variety of foods, including seafood, meats, poultry, eggs and dairy products, breads, cereals, and other grain products.”
There were also numerous tragic reports of young children who consumed the liquid and died quickly, including a 22-month-old boy.
He was taken to the emergency room and “was initially pink, alert and combative, but his condition rapidly deteriorated.”
‘His mental state deteriorated, he had to be ventilated and became cyanotic (when the skin turns blue), unresponsive and with no palpable pulse.
“He developed ventricular fibrillation (an abnormal heart rhythm) and died.”