Today’s post is a lesson on being thorough with your research.
At the beginning of the month, I started taking an infusion of powdered dandelion root and powdered beetroot to help control my blood sugar. I drank a scoop of it every night for a week, and while it tasted like dirt and disrespect (thanks, beetroot), it did have some promising results.
Then, on March 8th, I got SICK.
I’ll spare you the details, but it was bad enough to keep me in bed all day. Since the herbal infusion was the only new addition to my diet, I started researching the side effects of Dandelion and Beetroot.
Now, Dandelions are an herb I’ve researched and used MANY times, so I was confident in my knowledge of them. Beetroots were newer, but I hadn’t had any bad experiences with them.
That morning, I was lying in bed, miserable, and looking up side effects of Dandelion roots. That’s when I came across this fun fact:
“The most important dandelion metabolites are bitter substances which are especially found in a milky sap called latex, a substance found in almost ten percent of all flowering plants.”
So, Dandelion roots produce latex to protect themselves.
I’m allergic to latex.
I’ve essentially been drinking small amounts of latex every night for a week.
NO WONDER I’M SICK!
In all of my years researching dandelions, I never knew that Dandelions use latex to protect their roots from insects.
Now, I know that dandelion latex is probably different than the surgical/commercial latex that I’m allergic to, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe. So, even after I learned that I was dealing with food poisoning instead of an allergic reaction, I won’t be taking any more of the infusion until I’m sure the latex wasn’t making it worse.
The moral of this story is to do your research when trying something new, even if you’re confident in your knowledge. There’s always something new to learn!
Erynn Crittenden 