INSANITY FROM STRAWBERRIES.
Fruit Causes Irritating Rash, Which Has Resulted in Mental Derangement.
Waterbury (Conn) Dispatch New York Herald
Thousands of persons in this city, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Torrington and Thomaston are suffering from a rash or from rheumatism, which, physicians say, is caused by eating strawberries.
The rash resembles eczema in some cases and psoriasis in others. It causes intense itching, and some persons, unable to sleep or to obtain relief, have become temporarily insane.
Those afflicted with rheumatism say that a few hours after eating the berries they began to have sharp pains in the muscles of the back and limbs. Several persons thought they had suffered a paralytic stroke.
Dr. Frank J. Tuttle, medical examiner of Naugatuck, is one of the victims, and a dozen other physicians are afflicted. They attribute the epidemic to the eating of strawberries from the South that were green when shipped and ripened after arrival here. They say that such berries contain an uncommonly large quantity of acid, which causes rheumatism in persons susceptible thereto and a rash in others.
The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.) Jun 8, 1915
THE BALEFUL STRAWBERRY.
Sulkiness, Rash and Headache Caused by It — Safety Limit Twelve.
Hygenists who delight in raising alarms against popular foods are now tilting against strawberries, says a London special cable dispatch to the New York Sun. These are accused of having a bad effect upon the tempers of their eaters, who, it is alleged, become sulky and irritable after eating them.
A hygenist is quoted as saying that ladies are particularly susceptible in this respect. Some of them will eat a pound or more of strawberries at a time and then become so morose that people are glad to avoid them.
The fact is, they are physically ill without knowing it. They are suffering from the strawberry disease, the symptoms of which are slight dizziness, a desire to be alone and intolerance of being questioned.
The strawberries which have the worst effect are large mashy ones. The small kinds, with seeds on the surface, are usually harmless. The trouble is ascribed to the strawberry acids, which cream does not mollify. Indeed, the fruit is more wholesome without cream or sugar, and nobody should eat more than a dozen at a time.
Eustace Miles, the tennis player, as a vegetarian dietist confirms the danger to some persons from strawberries. He says they contain three acids, phosphoric, sulphuric and silicic. He believes that the last named causes the trouble. In addition to irritability, sufferers have strawberry rash and strawberry headache.
The News (Frederick, Maryland) Jun 11, 1907
YesterYear Once More 