An old lady nearly died after eating black fungus soaked for 2 days. How toxic is fumonisin? How to soak black fungus?

Recently, the topic "Auntie in Hangzhou, Zhejiang was admitted to the ICU the next day after eating black fungus soaked for 2 days" became a hot search.

Aunt Wang took out the black fungus that had been soaked in the refrigerator for two days and planned to eat it cold. Although she cooked it before eating, she still had abdominal pain and other symptoms one hour after eating it.

She was later sent to the hospital, where it was found that she needed renal dialysis due to liver and kidney function deterioration caused by fumonisin poisoning. She was rescued by ICU medical staff and is now out of danger.

▲Photo: From Weibo

Incidents of poisoning from eating fungus that has been soaked for too long often occur:

In October 2020, Wang Moumou, a resident of Xingnong Town, Jitong County, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, and his relatives, a total of 12 people, had a dinner at his home. Among them, 9 people all ate homemade "sour soup" and died after rescue efforts failed due to amylopectin poisoning.

In 2015, a little girl lost her life after eating black fungus that had been soaked for a long time. The culprit was also this aflatoxin.

1. How toxic is fumonisin?

To talk about fumonisin, we must first talk about Pseudomonas cocovenenans, as the two are relatives.

Aflatoxin is a toxin produced by the yeast Pseudomonas cereus subspecies. Fungus and tremella that have been soaked for too long, spoiled sour soup, rice noodles, rice noodles, etc. may contain this toxin.

The most terrifying thing is that rice fermentation acid is not afraid of high temperatures and cannot be boiled to death! And the mortality rate is high, more than 40%!

If you want to avoid aflatoxin poisoning, you really have to pay attention to it in your life!

2. How long is the best time to soak black fungus?

Many cases of aflatoxin poisoning are caused by eating black fungus that has been soaked for too long. How long should black fungus be soaked?

Recommended soaking time for black fungus:

Control it within 4 hours, the water temperature should not be too high, generally 30℃ is the most suitable temperature.

Experiments have shown that if black fungus is soaked for more than 6 hours, cracks will appear on the edges, seriously affecting the quality of the fungus and making it more susceptible to microbial contamination. [1]

3. Can black fungus lower blood pressure?

(Copyrighted image from the gallery, no permission to reprint)

cannot!

Black fungus is not only easy to buy, but also relatively durable to store. Many home kitchens have some dried black fungus, which tastes chewy.

However, some people eat black fungus in the hope of lowering blood pressure. But this is something I have to say, eating black fungus really does not lower blood pressure!

There is no specific food that can lower blood pressure by eating, it can only be said that it helps stabilize blood pressure.

Studies have found that increasing the intake of vegetables and fruits can significantly reduce the incidence of high blood pressure. This is mainly because vegetables and fruits are rich in nutrients that are beneficial to blood pressure control, such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, dietary fiber, antioxidants, etc.

As for black fungus, even 100g of water-soaked black fungus only contains 52mg of potassium, which is less than half of the potassium in Chinese cabbage. [2]

So, don’t expect to lower your blood pressure by eating black fungus, but the dietary fiber content of black fungus is good. Eating 100 grams of soaked black fungus can provide 2.6 grams of dietary fiber, which is almost 2.9 times that of cabbage.

▲Photo: 5 grams of dried black fungus

After soaking 5 grams of dried fungus in water for 20 minutes, it will weigh about 35 grams.



summary:

Don't soak the black fungus for too long, it is recommended to control it within 4 hours. If you like to eat black fungus, just eat it for its nutrition and taste, don't expect it to lower your blood pressure!

ps: I haven't posted a recipe in the past two weeks, but I will continue to update it. It's just that I'm really busy recently. I will post a recipe after I'm done with these few days!

References:

[1] Ma Yinpeng, Du Boda, Zhang Jiechi, et al. Study on factors affecting the expansion rate of black fungus[J]. Edible Fungi, 2017, 39(004):62-65.

[2] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018