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Lyyer

Lyyer

Posts: 15 Bronze Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Q:
Can you die from eating too many bananas?

A:
The place that people might get the idea that bananas could be toxic probably comes from the potassium that bananas contain. Despite the fact that potassium is an essential mineral, potassium can be toxic in large doses. It is so toxic, in fact, that potassium chloride is one of the substances used to kill people by lethal injection. Too much potassium in the bloodstream causes problems with the nervous system and eventually cardiac arrest if the dose is high enough. An overdose of potassium like this is called Hyperkalemia
So the question then becomes, would it be possible to eat enough bananas to cause potassium poisoning? Since the U.S. RDA for potassium is 4,000 mg or so, and since one banana contains about 400 mg, you would have to eat 10 bananas just to hit the RDA. Obviously that is not toxic – that’s the recommendation.

If you look up the lethal dose for potassium chloride on a page like this, the **** value is 2,600 mg per kilogram. If you weigh 75 kilograms (165 pounds), you would need to consume 75 * 2,600 = 195,000 mg of potassium to reach fatal levels. That’s 487 bananas worth. Potassium chloride is only about half potassium, so you might need to eat fewer bananas (containing K rather than KCl) than that to achieve toxicity, say by half. But the result is the same – It is hard to imagine that people who are healthy are going to be killing themselves with bananas. It’s hard to imagine someone eating 25 bananas in a day [lol gf Alan], much less 250.


Some medicines (e.g. Diovan for blood pressure) change the way that potassium is processed, and might also lower the number of bananas needed to reach toxicity.

05-Sep-2013 09:00:00

[#GSXSZYM0T]

[#GSXSZYM0T]

Posts: 18,440 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Original message details are unavailable.
Q:
Can you die from eating too many bananas?

A:
The place that people might get the idea that bananas could be toxic probably comes from the potassium that bananas contain. Despite the fact that potassium is an essential mineral, potassium can be toxic in large doses. It is so toxic, in fact, that potassium chloride is one of the substances used to kill people by lethal injection. Too much potassium in the bloodstream causes problems with the nervous system and eventually cardiac arrest if the dose is high enough. An overdose of potassium like this is called Hyperkalemia
So the question then becomes, would it be possible to eat enough bananas to cause potassium poisoning? Since the U.S. RDA for potassium is 4,000 mg or so, and since one banana contains about 400 mg, you would have to eat 10 bananas just to hit the RDA. Obviously that is not toxic – that’s the recommendation.

If you look up the lethal dose for potassium chloride on a page like this, the **** value is 2,600 mg per kilogram. If you weigh 75 kilograms (165 pounds), you would need to consume 75 * 2,600 = 195,000 mg of potassium to reach fatal levels. That’s 487 bananas worth. Potassium chloride is only about half potassium, so you might need to eat fewer bananas (containing K rather than KCl) than that to achieve toxicity, say by half. But the result is the same – It is hard to imagine that people who are healthy are going to be killing themselves with bananas. It’s hard to imagine someone eating 25 bananas in a day [lol gf Alan], much less 250.


Some medicines (e.g. Diovan for blood pressure) change the way that potassium is processed, and might also lower the number of bananas needed to reach toxicity.

Orly?

05-Sep-2013 09:45:38

Sassychassis
Jun Member 2015

Sassychassis

Posts: 1,583 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I certainly hope that Alan doesn't have to undergo the torture of another self-inflicted gastronomic atrocity this month. He definitely deserves an end-of-year bonus for that! Pick the skills next time, Alan! :P
~
S
a
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^_^ Member on 5-June-2015 after 10 years & 8 months f2p.

05-Sep-2013 10:37:48

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