A woman’s gathering with friends nearly turned into tragedy after her body showed alarming signs following what appeared to be a harmless food-beverage combo.
Thankfully, doctors were able to snatch her life from the jaws of death after an emergency treatment.
Drank ‘baijiu’ while eating durian
According to Sin Chew Daily, the woman was out eating with friends in Fujian, China, where she consumed two large pieces of durian.
After wolfing down the durian, she drank 200ml of ‘baijiu‘, a colorless Chinese liquor made from fermented sorghum.
Warning signs
Not long after, the woman’s face and neck experienced deep flushing along with hives which broke out all across her body, prompting her to be rushed to the hospital.
Along the way, she began to experience tightness in her chest, breathlessness, and delirium, where her blood oxygen level dropped to as low as 78%.
Thankfully, her condition, which was diagnosed as a severe reaction caused by having durian and alcohol together, improved following an emergency treatment.
What happened?
According to the doctors, the liver contains aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), a type of enzyme that metabolises alcohol.
However, durian is a fruit that contains various sulfur compounds that prevent the enzyme from doing its job.
When consumed alongside alcohol, it can lead to an accumulation of acetaldehyde, which in turn causes irregular heart rhythms, airway spasms, or respiratory and circulatory failure.
The doctors also advised that all kinds of alcohol cannot be be consumed within 24 hours before and after eating durian to prevent this condition from occurring.
As for those with poor liver function or allegies, they are advised to refrain from alcohol for more than three days after eating durian to ensure the liver’s metabolic function returns to normal.
This isn’t the first instance someone has died from this unusual combo, with one instance taking place in Thailand back in 2019.
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