The food we eat is really important for staying healthy. It’s super important to remember that moderation is essential. Eating too much of certain foods can harm our health.
To keep both our bodies and minds in good shape, we should aim for a balanced diet filled with fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains.
On a different note, there’s a specific Thai dish that is so risky to eat that it is thought to cause the deaths of around 20,000 people every year.
The ingredients themselves don’t impose any danger, except for one key component.
Koi Pla is a dish that consists of raw fish mixed with lemon juice, herbs, and spices. People in Laos and Isan think of it as a salad. To make it even tastier, they sometimes add galangal, shallots, and mint.
The fish that is used to make this dish comes from a water source in the Mekong area, where there are parasitic flatworms.
Unfortunately, when people eat this dish, they might end up with these parasites in their bodies. These parasites can harm the liver and may even lead to liver cancer.
This type of cancer is mostly present in people of East Asia.
Doctor Narong Khuntikeo is working hard to inform people about the risks of eating Koi Pla. His parents sadly passed away from liver cancer after eating this dish.
Sadly, many people in Laos are not paying attention. They refuse to stop their tradition of making and eating this potentially deadly food.
“It’s a huge health issue in this area,” Dr. Khuntikeo shared with Agence France-Presse. “But no one is aware of it because they die silently, like leaves drifting down from a tree.”
In 2017, the doctor, along with a group of scientists, performed ultrasound scans and urine tests at the people of the region where the dish is consumed on a daily basis.
About 80 percent of people from various communities were found to have the parasite.
When the results were shared with the locals, many seemed indifferent.
“Whatever, there are lots of ways to die,” one person commented. “I’ve never been tested, so I guess I probably have it since I’ve been eating koi pla since I was a kid,” another person mentioned.
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