2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
The doctors told how terrible an overdose of their favorite delicacy is.
"The toxic dose of chocolate exists and can even lead to death," said Reed Caldwell, a resuscitation physician at New York University. However, you are more likely to end up in the hospital with an upset stomach than an overdose of this sweet.
The danger lies in the substance theobromine, which is contained in the cocoa beans. It is a vegetable alkaloid with a bitter taste. In the human body, it acts as a mild stimulant, similar in effect to caffeine. In addition, theobromine dilates blood vessels, which lowers blood pressure, and has a diuretic effect.
Theobromine also crosses the blood-brain barrier, according to the US National Institutes of Health. This is a layer of capillaries that lets nutrients into the brain, but filters out toxins and harmful microorganisms. Because of this ability to penetrate the barrier, theobromine affects mood like caffeine.
In large quantities, theobromine can be toxic to humans. The combination of vasodilating and diuretic effects and gastrointestinal upset leads to heart palpitations, loss of appetite, sweating, tremors and severe headaches. And because of the effect on the cardiovascular system, a large dose of theobromine can become fatal.
However, according to Caldwell, this is highly unlikely. To do this, you need to eat a lot of chocolate.
The upset stomach and vomiting that you will earn in the process will simply prevent you from eating a lethal dose.
Different types of chocolate have different theobromine content. In milk, about 2.4 mg per 1 g of chocolate, and in bitter - 5.5 mg. The toxic dose of theobromine for humans is 1,000 mg per 1 kg of body weight. That is, a person weighing 75 kg needs to eat 75 g of theobromine in order to be poisoned to death. This is about 711 milk chocolate bars weighing 43 g each.
But for dogs, the toxic dose is much lower than Chocolate poisoning - 100-500 mg per 1 kg of body weight. So make sure your pet doesn't get to your sweet supplies.
Although dying from a chocolate overdose is not the strangest thing a person is capable of, Caldwell has never encountered such a case or heard about it from colleagues. Unless you deliberately try to poison yourself, you will not die, no matter how much chocolate you eat.
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