What Is Toxic Squash Syndrome? How to Tell When Pumpkin Is Toxic?

What Is Toxic Squash Syndrome? How to Tell When Pumpkin Is Toxic?
(Photo: Pexels/Ylanite Koppens)

Squash is nutritious. However, when it tastes bitter, one should stop eating it because it could lead to toxic squash syndrome.

What Is Toxic Squash Syndrome?

Squash is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. Toxic squash syndrome or cucurbit poisoning is a rare disease that can cause severe hair loss and symptoms that resemble food poisoning.

Squash belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family, which comprises squash, melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins. Fruits become poisonous due to chemicals called cucurbitacins, which give them their bitter taste.

Cucurbitacin is produced in small to no amounts during average fruit production. However, cucurbitacin levels might rise due to accidental crop cross-pollination. Whether or not cucurbitacins affect the fruit, it looks normal, so until a customer takes a bitter bite, they might not realize something is wrong. You could develop toxic squash syndrome if you keep eating the bitter fruit.

Among the most prevalent signs and symptoms of toxic squash syndrome are vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. The severity of toxic squash syndrome can result in enlargement of the kidneys, gallbladder, liver, and pancreas.

Cucurbitacin E, a toxin found in squash, can make humans sick and induce cucurbit poisoning or toxic squash syndrome.

Cucurbit poisoning is rare, but it has been reported in medical literature before; in those cases, the victims suffered food poisoning from eating bitter squash, zucchini, and other gourds. Squash lovers should note that if they experience any bitterness after consuming one of these popular veggies, they should discontinue immediately.

Keep in mind that you should only stop eating squash, zucchini, and other members of the Cucurbitaceae family if they start to taste strange or bitter.

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Toxic Squash Syndrome Cases

According to a case report, two women from France lost their hair due to toxic squash syndrome. The women didn't know each other and didn't get the squash from the same seller.

In one case, hours after consuming a bitter-tasting pumpkin soup, a woman and her family had nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea as a result of food poisoning. A week or so later, the woman started to lose a lot of hair, covering a big area of her head, but none of her family members had hair loss.

In the second case, no one else who consumed the bitter-tasting squash became ill, but one woman experienced severe vomiting almost an hour after eating the vegetable. After about three weeks, she started to lose a ton of hair from her head, pubic region, and underarms.

The two French women who lost their hair eventually grew back their locks. Two months after the incident, the first woman who consumed the pumpkin soup had less than one inch (2 centimeters) of new hair growing back on her head. The second woman had grown back short hair on most parts of her scalp, measuring more than two inches (6 cm) six months later.

Dr. Zane Horowitz, a toxicologist and medical director of the Oregon Poison Center in Portland, who was not involved in the case, stated that hair loss is a completely new phenomenon that may be linked to exposure to cucurbitacins. However, it is unclear why it happened in these cases.