A bizarre disorder caused by pine nuts has the FDA stumped

Beware the pine nut.

First of all, it’s not a nut, it’s a seed. There’s a red flag!

Secondly, some people who innocently enjoy a handful of pine nuts end up suffering from a cruel condition known as pine mouth syndrome.

How do you know you have pine mouth syndrome? After you’ve munched a few pine nuts, you wake up two or three days later and everything you eat has a strong metallic taste.

This is annoying for most pine mouth syndrome victims. But for a chef or a wine taster or a restaurant critic it can be devastating. Fortunately, the condition goes away on its own, but may last as long as four weeks.

The truly weird thing about this odd condition is that there are no known cases previous to 2001. And in the past two years, pine mouth cases suddenly spiked.

Can you guess the suspected culprit?

Yep–China.

The nuts may be treated with something before packaging, or the pine trees may be absorbing something in the environment that’s finding it’s way into the seed. But pine nuts are also harvested from pines in Europe, the U.S., and other areas, so the China connection is just a theory so far.

While this mystery continues to linger, you might be able to help. If one morning your scrambled eggs taste like they’ve been rolled in mercury and served on a lead plate, the FDA wants you to give them a call right away. They’ve been tracking pine mouth syndrome cases for nearly two years.

So far, no luck.

As one retail food safety manager told the Baltimore Sun, “The FDA’s bewildered. They’re as bewildered as anybody else.”

Hmmm…that sounds oddly familiar.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Sources:
“Pine Mouth: How Pine Nuts Can Ruin Tastebuds for Weeks” Courtney Hutchison, ABC News, 7/7/10, abcnews.go.com
“Asian pine nuts leave some in bitter mood” Laura Vozzella, Baltimore Sun, 10/14/09, baltimoresun.com