Q: Is star fruit safe to eat? I love it, but friends have told me recently that it will mess up my medications, or that it will damage my kidneys or liver or something. Can I eat it?
A: The fact that so many people have been eating star fruit for so long suggests that most of us can eat them quite safely. That said, there is a grain of truth to each of your friends' concerns.
Star fruit, or carambola as they're also known, contain ingredients (the same as grapefruit) that can affect certain blood pressure medications. If your doctor has told you to avoid grapefruit because of your medications, then you should also be avoiding carambola. But if you're not on medications affected by grapefruit, then star fruit shouldn't affect you.
Carambola contains oxalates, also found in rhubarb, spinach and some other vegetables. Oxalates bind calcium in our blood. In very large doses, the calcium oxalate that is formed can affect the lining of your gut, get into the lining of your arteries, cause inflammation in your mouth and damage your kidneys. Too much also can lower the level of calcium in your blood, which can affect muscles and nerves. People with kidney disease or failure should avoid them.
The benefits and risks of many foods is based on how much you eat and how often you eat it, and how much or little variety there is in the rest of your diet. With a wide variety of other fruits and vegetables, eating one a day or one a week is not going to be a problem unless you have kidney problems or are on certain medications. .
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement
Advertisement