Diet guru reveals the nut that could cause life-threatening health problems if you eat more than SEVEN

Eating too many Brazil nuts can cause a range of alarming health problems, a leading dietitian has revealed.

Abbey Sharp said on her social media channels: ‘This isn’t an exercise, folks… so few people know about this, but (overeating) can be fatal.’

Canadian Ms Sharp, 37, who has two million followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, said the biggest concern was selenium.

The mineral promotes fertility and metabolism and is found in a variety of foods, such as eggs, fish, mushrooms and turkey, but Brazil nuts are by far the richest source.

Just 1 oz — six to eight — of Brazil nuts contains about 1,000 percent of the recommended daily intake of selenium — meaning it’s very easy to overdose, according to Ms. Sharp.

“The upper limit for selenium is 400 micrograms, and it only takes seven nuts to exceed that threshold,” she added. ‘And of course much less for a child.’

In the post, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times on Instagram alone, she lists the disadvantages of consuming excessive amounts of selenium.

‘Toxicity symptoms can range from garlicky breath – coarse – diarrhea, brittle nails, to life-threatening symptoms such as kidney and heart failure.

Canadian Ms Sharp, 37, who has two million followers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, said the main concern was selenium

‘I think Brazil nuts should be sold with a clear warning on the front and actually treated more as a supplement than a snack.

“So let’s stick with the peanut mix for parties and keep those Brazil nuts in the cupboard where they belong.”

The National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, in the US, provides detailed advice on selenium.

It says ‘you can get recommended amounts of selenium by eating a variety of foods, including seafood, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products, bread, grains and other grain products’.

Studies suggest that people who consume less selenium are more likely to develop a range of cancers, but the guidelines warn: ‘WIt is not clear whether selenium supplements reduce the risk of cancer.’

Under the heading ‘Can selenium be harmful?’ it says: ‘Yes, if you ingest too much. Brazil nuts, for example, contain very high amounts of selenium and can cause you to go over the upper limit if you eat too much of them.

‘Extremely high intakes of selenium can cause serious problems, including breathing difficulties, tremors, kidney failure, heart attacks and congestive heart failure.’

Other experts have suggested that it is safe to limit Brazil nut consumption to two to five per day.

“I think Brazil nuts should be sold with a clear warning on the front and actually treated more like a supplement than a snack,” Ms Sharp said.

In 2006, an Australian man, aged 75, died after taking a large number of selenium supplements.

According to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia, he had become concerned about prostate cancer and had read online that selenium played a role in preventing the disease.

In a 2020 study review, experts from the National Research Center for The Working Environment in Denmark outlined a number of cases of serious illness and death due to selenium poisoning.

The patients had all ingested a liquid chemical called a gun blueing agent, which is primarily used to blacken metals, the way guns are made.

It contains selenium dioxide, which is made by burning selenium.

Brazil nuts do not contain this form of selenium and the deaths are not related to Brazil nut consumption.

However, they serve as a stark warning about how toxic very large amounts of selenium can be.

The reports include a 24-year-old man and two women, one 40 years old and another 54 years old, all of whom suffered fatal cardiac arrest just hours after ingesting gun bluing agent.

The National Institutes of Health states that ‘you can get recommended amounts of selenium by eating a variety of foods, including seafood, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products, breads, cereals and other grain products’

There were also numerous tragic reports of toddlers who consumed the liquid and died quickly, including a 22-month-old boy.

He was taken to the emergency room and ‘initially he was rosy, alert and combative, but his condition rapidly deteriorated.

‘His mental condition deteriorated, he required ventilation and he became cyanotic (when the skin turns blue), unresponsive and had no palpable pulse.

‘He developed ventricular fibrillation (an abnormal heart rhythm) and died.’