A Chinese woman spent five days in intensive care after injecting herself with fruit juice, BBC News reported.
The 51-year-old woman liquidised fruit and injected herself with it, claiming that it would have “health benefits”.
A short while later she experienced swelling and an itchy skin. She also started coming down with a fever. According to the Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University in Hunan, the intravenous injection contained over twenty types of fruit.
The woman experienced liver, kidney and lung damage, according to reports.
“I had thought fresh fruits were very nutritious and it would not do me harm by injecting them into my body,” she said. “I had no idea that would get me into such trouble.”
Why you shouldn’t inject yourself with foreign matter
Any injections should be administered by a trained professional as for example using the wrong type of needle can harm the veins and skin tissue and cause bruising and scars.
There’s also a small risk of creating an air embolism (a pocket of air) in the vein that may cause blood vessels to be blocked, ultimately causing a serious medical emergency and even death (this is a worst-case scenario, as a small amount of air will not have this effect).
Recently, Health24 reported on this story about a man who injected himself with his own semen to cure his chronic backache, which also backfired.
Unfortunately the medical case study, explaining exactly why the Chinese woman suffered from organ damage isn’t available at this time, but according to news reports she had to undergo dialysis to remove toxins from her blood, and doctors gave her anti-clotting agents.
Should you be juicing?
While it’s not recommended that you inject yourself with fruit juice, the practice of juicing (skipping entire meals and only consuming fruit juice) has become increasingly popular over the years.
According to a previous Health24 article, juicing can be a filling snack on the run, perfect to get your five-a-day in one go.
Those in favour of juice cleanses claim that your body can better absorb nutrients in juice form. There’s, however, no scientific evidence of this, or that drinking only the juice of a fruit or vegetable is any healthier than eating the fruit or vegetable itself.
If you choose to drink it in moderation, very well. But do steer clear of juice injections.
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