UNRIPE FRUIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 March 1941, Page 3

UNRIPE FRUIT

i EATEN BY N.S.W. CHILDREN. TWO DEATHS RESULT. i I Children should be educated from lan early age to avoid eating unripe fruit, even if modern psychology I were laid aside for the rod, declared ' a doctor of the Children's Hospital, Sydney, commenting on the death of two Wagga children from eating unripe peaches, says the "Sydney Sun.” Five other children of the same Wagga family were in hospital with the same complaint. According to the doctor, death from eating unripe fruit is caused by the raw pulp so irritating the alimentary tract that poison floods the system. Seriousness of the condition is in direct ratio to the amount of raw fruit eaten and its degree of mastication. An unripe apple, swallowed in large lumps, will produce colitis, but, according to latest studies, one thoroughly chewed will cause only a little discomfort. But, as with peaches, a large number of green apples gulped in lumps can so poison the system that death may result. Most immature fruit can produce this condition, even in adults. Recently, a child died at the Children’s Hospital from the effects of swallowing unripe blackberries. “Food poisoning is hardly the correct term to use for the complaint.” another doctor said today. "Food poisoning indicates the presence of bacteria, which would not be present in green I'ruit. However. Ihe oll’ecl is the same. Inflammation of the intestines is caused in degrees varying from acute stomach-ache to death.” Danger from eating green fruit varies in individuals. One child may writhe on the ground after eating four unripe apples, another may feel little ill-effect. Cherries and strawberries, for instance, cause rashes on people allergic Io the fruit, just as wattle-blossom will give some hayfever.