🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Fruits and nuts are commonly consumed foods, with various types of almonds available. Some contain cyanogenic glycosides, toxic substances that can cause poisoning—bitter almonds being the most common source, with serious consequences. In 1959, Shen Junchen, a young worker at Nantong Pharmaceutical General Store’s decoction processing workshop in Jiangsu Province, died after consuming roasted bitter almonds intended for herbal prescriptions, becoming a well-known cautionary tale in the medical community. Two children playing together ate apricots, then went home separately. Their parents noticed the previously lively children had pale gray faces, extreme weakness, and intermittent nausea and vomiting. They had eaten several bitter almond kernels after cracking open the apricot pits—about seven or eight each—and felt unwell over an hour later. Doctors immediately performed gastric lavage and treatment, and the children recovered after three days.
Bitter almond poisoning typically occurs in early summer when apricots ripen. It often happens because children unaware of the toxicity of bitter almonds—whose poison is tens of times stronger than sweet almonds—crack open the pits and eat the kernels. Cases also arise from consuming bitter almonds in cough remedies or from eating too many cold-marinated almonds (without sufficient toxin removal).
The incubation period for bitter almond poisoning is generally 1–2 hours. Once ingested, amygdalin in bitter almonds reacts with water under the action of amygdalinase to produce hydrogen cyanide, which severely impairs cellular function and damages vital life systems like the central nervous system. Children consuming just a few to twenty kernels may show symptoms: initial signs include bitter taste in mouth, excessive salivation, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, and limb weakness; followed by rapid heartbeat, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and paralysis in limbs. Severe cases lead to breathing difficulty, cold extremities, unconsciousness, convulsions, frequent screaming, sometimes with a smell of bitter almonds; ultimately resulting in loss of consciousness, dilated pupils, clenched jaws, full-body spasms, and death due to respiratory paralysis or cardiac arrest—children have particularly high mortality rates.
To prevent poisoning from cyanogenic glycoside-containing plants, educate children not to eat raw bitter-tasting nuts or roasted bitter almonds. If consuming cold-marinated nut dishes, soak them thoroughly in clean water, then boil uncovered to allow toxins to volatilize, and avoid overconsumption.