Two women in France lose hair after eating squash
Digital Reporter
Thursday, March 29, 2018, 3:16 PM - Two women in France lost their hair after eating squash with a bitter taste, according to a report published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Dermatology.
The women didn't know each other and purchased their squash from different sellers. One of the women also came down with food poisoning symptoms, including nausea and vomiting, within hours of eating a pumpkin soup that had a slightly bitter taste.
A week later, she lost large chunks of hair. Nobody in her family was affected. The other woman also reported nausea and lost her hair about three weeks later.
Hair grows an average of 1.25 cm a month, but in both cases, the women's hair grew back slower than average.
The woman who ate the pumpkin soup saw re-growth of less than 2 cm two months after the incident. The other woman saw regrowth of 6 cm six months later.
According to the report, both women developed a case of cucurbit poisoning, also referred to as "toxic squash syndrome."
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Toxic squash syndrome
According to the report, some members of the cucurbitacae family — which includes pumpkin, squash, melons and cucumbers — can produce a bitter-tasting chemical that has a toxic effect on human cells.
Farmers usually cultivate plants that contain minimal amounts of the toxin, but when cross-pollination occurs or plants are harvested from the wild, they can contain high levels of the chemical.
The issue for the consumer, though, is that the bitter gourds and melons are indistinguishable from ones that are safe to eat.
A 2018 study reported more than 350 cases of illness linked to bitter tasting squash between 2012 and 2016. More than half (56 per cent) of those incidents involved squash that were purchased in a store.
Researchers say if you come across a bitter melon or gourd, stop eating it immediately.
Source: JAMA Dermatology
