Young Man Suffers Kid.ney Failure After Eating Two Pieces of Vegetable: 2 Bitter Vegetables to Avoid Immediately, Clean Cutting Board and Knife Thoroughly

A young man was hospitalized in shock, with elevated blo.od lactate levels, electrolyte imbalance, and kid.ney failure.

Xiao Wei, a 25-year-old from Fujian, China, said he had purchased three gourds a few days earlier. He ate the first two without any issues. On the afternoon of May 30, he cooked the last one and noticed that “the first bite didn’t taste right—slightly bitter.” Shortly after, he began vomiting, felt chest tightness, dizziness, abdominal pain, and had diarrhea. He drove himself to the hospital.

After initial treatment, he was deemed stable enough to go home. However, Xiao Wei fainted twice while driving, lost control of the car, and crashed into a guardrail. After handling the accident and returning home, he fainted again in the middle of the night and was rushed to the local hospital by his family. At that point, he was in shock, had high blood lactate levels, electrolyte imbalance, and was diagnosed with kidney failure.

After reviewing his medical and dietary history, doctors suspected that the bitter gourd might have triggered the severe symptoms, including diarrhea and unconsciousness.

Bitter Gourd Is Toxic – Not All Gourds Are Safe to Eat

According to Dr. Shu Long, Deputy Director of the Nutrition Department at Zhejiang Hospital, gourds belong to the Cucurbitaceae family and are mainly harvested from May to October. Normally sweet, gourd is a common summer dish in Chinese households.

Over time, through human cultivation, most Cucurbitaceae fruits and vegetables have lost their bitterness. However, around 8% of them can still turn bitter due to factors like genetics, temperature, sunlight, soil, and external influences.

Many people assume a bitter gourd is simply unpleasant but still edible after cooking. Others mistakenly believe that bitter gourd has a cooling effect, similar to bitter melon, and can be consumed regardless of the bitterness. Dr. Shu Long warns that these assumptions are incorrect—any gourd that tastes abnormally bitter should not be eaten.

The bitter substance in toxic gourds is cucurbitacin, chemically known as tetracyclic triterpenoid cucurbitacin B. Cucurbitacin can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, instability while walking, and other adverse reactions. It also irritates the digestive tract, leading to indigestion, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and more.

How to Identify Bitter Gourds?

It’s difficult to distinguish toxic gourds based on appearance alone. However, many bitter gourds resemble lightbulbs in shape. Compared to sweet gourds, they tend to be longer and slimmer, with rough surfaces and an intensely bitter taste similar to Coptis chinensis (a medicinal herb known for its bitterness).

Symptoms of Accidental Ingestion:

1. Mild Poisoning: dry mouth, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, drowsiness.

2. Severe Poisoning: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dehydration, and bloody stools.

At this stage, patients may be misdiagnosed with bacterial dysentery, delaying proper treatment.

Dr. Shu Long advises tasting a tiny amount with the tip of your tongue before cooking. If you detect bitterness, discard the vegetable immediately—do not eat even a single bite. Also, thoroughly wash any knives or cutting boards used on the bitter gourd.

If you accidentally consume a bitter gourd and experience symptoms like dizziness, nausea, or vomiting, seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Besides gourds, other Cucurbitaceae vegetables—like sponge gourds—should also be avoided if they taste bitter (excluding bitter melon, which is naturally bitter but edible), to protect your health.