• There are millions of species of mushrooms in the world. Of those, about 700 are edible, while around 400 are toxic. There’s a saying that states, “All mushrooms are edible – some, only once.”
• There are about two dozen potentially deadly mushrooms in the U.S. Most “poisonous” mushrooms will cause unpleasant symptoms, but are not life-threatening. On average, one or two people die of mushroom poisoning in the U.S. every year.
• Of the approximately 10,000 calls received by Poison Control Centers each year, about 80% involve toddlers at the stage where they put everything in their mouths, including mushrooms growing in their yards. Only about 5% of those children develop symptoms requiring medical intervention, and about 1% are admitted to the hospital.
• Compared to deaths by lightning (around 100), bee and wasp stings (up to 50) and peanuts (up to 100) mushrooms are pretty safe.
• Many toxic mushrooms have a delayed onset of symptoms and often take days to kill a victim. Some mushrooms are innocuous unless they are eaten raw, or eaten with alcohol.
• The Death Cap causes about 80% of mushroom deaths worldwide. The Destroying Angel comes in second place.
• The toxin contained in Death Caps is called amanitin. Consider that it takes up to 400 mg of Ibuprofen or 650 mg of aspirin to treat a headache. If you have an infection, you might take 500 mg of antibiotic twice a day. A 16-ounce cup of coffee contains 320 mg of caffeine. Yet it takes only 6 mg of amanitin to kill 50% of adults who consume it.
• Amanitin kills by shutting down the body’s ability to synthesize proteins, preventing the formation of new protein cells. As protein cells grow old and die, they are not replaced. Organs that are most dependent on protein, such as the kidneys, bear the brunt of the poison. The liver is greatly affected because it filters toxins. A person who has eaten one of these mushrooms will feel sick a few hours after ingesting it, and then will recover. But within a few days, liver failure is inevitable without treatment. The death rate from ingesting the Death Cap is about 10% in countries with modern medical services, and ranges up to 50% in countries without access to medical services. The amount of toxin that kills is often a hair’s breadth away from a dose that causes no illness at all. Surprisingly, one of the best antidotes for poisoning by Death Cap is an extract from milk thistle.
• Emperor Claudius died when his wife Agrippina served him a meal laced with Death Cap mushrooms, so that her son Nero could become emperor.
• Morel mushrooms, like many mushrooms, contain a toxin that is destroyed by heat. At a banquet given for Vancouver city leaders in 1992, the chef made a salad and added a generous amount of raw chopped morels. The result was that 77 out of 483 guests required medical attention for gastric distress.
• Interestingly enough, the substance in morels that causes illness is called gyromitrin. Gyromitrin is also used as rocket fuel. It’s toxic when vaporized, and people who boil mushrooms containing gyromitrin have gotten sick just by breathing the steam of a pot of boiling mushrooms. Gyromitrin gets far more toxic if mushrooms are eaten several times within a short period. It loses strength when the mushroom is dried.
