# Did "New World" foods cause any widespread GI issues after global distribution?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322 "2020-05-23T01:19:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/61 "2020-05-28T16:57:36Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I’m not sure where you’re getting this from. As I said, there’s a big difference between sweet and bitter varieties of cassava/manioc. Sweet cassava doesn’t need to be “processed” beyond boiling, baking, or frying. I eat it frequently here in Panama (where it’s called yuca) prepared in this way, and it’s a staple part of the diet. I haven’t heard of it being a health problem despite the lack of processing. In Brazil and the Caribbean cassava is more commonly processed into meal or flour, in which the toxins are removed by soaking or fermentation.
> 
> You make it sound as if Africans don’t process cassava, which is certainly incorrect. It’s processed in many different ways. I’ve had cassava in West Africa as fufu and in other forms. Now there may be some places where cassava is sometimes not processed correctly, causing health problems, but this is not really an Old World/New World distinction.

I oversimplified. Sweet cassava only needs to be boiled to get rid of the cyanide. Bitter casava needs to be soaked, boiled, cut up, and sun dried to be rid of the cyanide. Most people eat sweet cassava, but bitter cassava is still used because it is much more drought resistant. In places that don’t know to soak it long enough a disease called konzo can result and tens of thousands of cases happen every year. Even in places where it is processed more, tropical ataxic neuropathy can occur in old people.

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**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-new-world-foods-cause-any-widespread-gi-issues-after-global-distribution/854322/62 "2020-05-28T18:17:26Z")

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> [@Lance\_Turbo](#):
>
> This is probably not true.

Agreed. The King would have had his “food tasters” try it long before it would have been offered at a party.

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