Cycad
'Australian Aborigines only eat this fruit after prolonged leaching in water.
Tribal people grind and soak the nuts to remove the nerve toxin, making the food source generally safe to eat, although often not all the toxin is removed. In addition, consumers of bush meat may face a health threat as the meat comes from game which may have eaten cycad nuts and carry traces of the toxin in body fat.
There is some indication that the regular consumption of starch derived from cycads is a factor in the development of Lytico-Bodig disease, a neurological disease with symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease and ALS. Lytico-Bodic and its potential connection to cycasin ingestion is one of the subjects explored in Oliver Sacks' 1997 book; "Island of the Colourblind."
Cattle that graze in pastures containing cycads may ingest the leaves and seeds and develop the neurologic syndrome of cycad toxicosis known as zamia staggers.' - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycad
BILD0706
Cycad
'Australian Aborigines only eat this fruit after prolonged leaching in water.
Tribal people grind and soak the nuts to remove the nerve toxin, making the food source generally safe to eat, although often not all the toxin is removed. In addition, consumers of bush meat may face a health threat as the meat comes from game which may have eaten cycad nuts and carry traces of the toxin in body fat.
There is some indication that the regular consumption of starch derived from cycads is a factor in the development of Lytico-Bodig disease, a neurological disease with symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease and ALS. Lytico-Bodic and its potential connection to cycasin ingestion is one of the subjects explored in Oliver Sacks' 1997 book; "Island of the Colourblind."
Cattle that graze in pastures containing cycads may ingest the leaves and seeds and develop the neurologic syndrome of cycad toxicosis known as zamia staggers.' - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycad
BILD0706