ShareThisWe depart from our usual calm and reasoned nutrition quiz for this alarmist, tabloid bleating: Your food can poison you! OK, stop hyperventilating and take our quiz.
1. Which toxin do apple seeds contain?
a) arsenic
b) cyanide
c) hemlock
2. True or false: Chewing three or four seeds from a single apple is enough to be sickened.
3. Which of the following foods does not contain small levels of cyanide?
a) cherries
b) lima beans
c) broccoli
4. According to the Web site healthsliciousness.com, "small amounts of cyanide may even be good for you by helping" which condition?
a) kidney disease
b) gout
c) high blood pressure
5. Potatoes and tomatoes contain traces of glycoalkaloids, a poison that can affect which part of the body?
a) stomach
b) brain
c) joints
ANSWERS: 1: b; 2: false (according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a person would have to eat a "huge" number of seeds to suffer serious health consequences); 3: c; 4: c; 5: a
Sources: National Institutes of Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; www.healthaliciousness.com; U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
(Contact Sam McManis at smcmanis(at)sacbee.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Sacramento Bee
