In everyday life, crabs are a must-have seafood during festivals. Due to their various cooking methods and rich nutritional content, they are loved by many people. But can eating crabs cause poisoning? Have you ever heard of it? You may not know that eating crabs in a certain way can cause shock. So let's learn more about it together!
Can eating crabs cause poisoning?
In general, there won't be any symptoms of poisoning if crabs are consumed correctly. However, if you eat dead crabs or undercooked crabs, there is a possibility of poisoning. So how do we detoxify if we get crab poisoning? Let's take a closer look!
1. After crabs are caught, they often struggle, causing an increase in lactic acid in their bodies. This leads to the rapid reproduction of bacteria in the crab's body after death, which then spreads to the crab meat. The bacteria decompose the amino acids in the crab's body, producing a harmful substance called "histamine," which causes allergic food poisoning. Another possible substance produced is "pseudo-histamine," which can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Therefore, you should pay attention when selecting crabs.
2. Crabs like to eat decaying animal corpses such as dead fish and shrimp in the water, which will cause a certain amount of bacteria to accumulate in their bodies. Especially for river crabs, they mostly grow in polluted rivers and ponds, with a large number of pathogenic bacteria on their bodies. Live crabs can excrete bacteria through their metabolism, but once a crab dies, the bacteria inside its body will multiply rapidly. One of these bacteria is called Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which can decarboxylate the protein in the human body, producing histamine. When histamine accumulates to a certain amount, it can cause poisoning when consumed. Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. In severe cases, dehydration, convulsions, and even shock may occur.
3. It is generally believed that adults may experience allergic reactions if they consume more than 100 milligrams of histamine. Symptoms may include facial flushing, skin allergies, conjunctival congestion, as well as headache, dizziness, rapid pulse, palpitations, thirst, burning sensation in the throat, and swollen lips. Some may experience numbness in the mouth, tongue, and limbs, weakness throughout the body, and restlessness. More severe symptoms may include asthma, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and fainting.
How to detoxify if you get crab poisoning
Induce vomiting with saline solution
Crabs often contain a large amount of toxins and bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract, so eating them raw or consuming dead crabs can easily cause symptoms of poisoning such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. People who experience crab poisoning should immediately induce vomiting and wash their stomach with clean water or saline solution.
Drink sugar-salt water
For people with crab poisoning, drinking sugar-salt water can induce vomiting. The formula is to add 40 grams of sugar, 3.5 grams of salt, and 2.5 grams of baking soda to 1000 grams of boiling water. Drink as much as you vomit or have diarrhea. It has a certain relieving effect on the symptoms of poisoning.
Drink garlic and brown sugar water
Take 15 grams of garlic, wash and crush it, soak it in cold water to remove impurities, and add 25 grams of brown sugar. Drink it all at once, and repeat every hour for 3-4 times. It has a certain detoxifying effect.
