Can eating orange & carrot or papaya & lemon be deadly? Find out

Hyderabad: A post listing six fruit combinations that are reportedly deadly for humans has gone viral on social media. The viral post reads, "HEALTH PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!! SIX (6) PAIRS OF FRUITS THAT SHOULD NEVER BE MIXED BECAUSE THEY CAN CAUSE DEATH....Orange and Carrot, Pineapple and Milk, Papaya and Lemon, Guava and Banana, Orange and Milk and Banana and Lemon. You can save a life by sharing this message."

Consuming fruits and vegetables are generally good for overall health. According to Harvard T.H Chan, a diet rich in vegetables and fruits can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, lower risk of eye and digestive problems, and have a positive effect upon blood sugar, which can help keep appetite in check. Eating non-starchy vegetables and fruits like apples, pears, and green leafy vegetables may even promote weight loss. Their low glycaemic loads prevent blood sugar spikes that can increase hunger.

Can these fruit combinations cause death? Let's find out.

Fact Check

NewsMeter ran keyword searches in order to debunk the food combinations one by one.

1. Orange and carrot

We found a recipe for a healthy carrot and orange juice on WebMD. "In this vibrant, healthy carrot-orange juice recipe, we jazz up plain orange juice by adding a yellow tomato, apple and carrots to pack in immune-boosting vitamins A and C," the recipe read. This proves that orange and carrot combination is not deadly, as suggested in the viral post.

2. Pineapple and milk

According to Healthline, mixing pineapple and milk is not toxic or dangerous. However, it may result in curdled milk due to the effect of pineapple's bromelain enzyme on milk's casein protein.

3. Papaya and lemon

Studies have found proven antioxidant properties in lemon and papaya juice as the fruits are rich in a wide range of bioactive phenolics.

4. Guava and banana

Internet is filled with recipes for guava and banana smoothies. Also, both bananas and guava have high Vitamin C content.

We further reached out to our expert Dr. Umesh Wadhavani, a nutritionist and a corporate wellness coach. He has been actively working in the wellness industry, helping people with their mental as well as physical health issues.

According to Dr. Umesh, "So, to begin with, the simple answer is a big NO! They can't cause death. It's plain stupidity."

He added, "These kinds of principles and beliefs come from ayurvedic believers. By this, I mean some people who believed in Ayurveda and have massively misinterpreted the actual practices of Ayurveda. When Ayurveda was developing, a lot of things were anecdotal. If xyz developed some kind of allergy with a particular food combination, for say orange with milk, and developed diarrhea, this will further become a belief that if xyz developed diarrhea everyone will. The same goes with other combinations we are talking about in the post."

He said there is absolutely no scientific evidence to prove these combinations can be deadly. "If these combinations could cause death, then there would be so many deaths on a daily basis in the world because even I prescribed my clients to have a smoothie which includes pineapple and lemon or pineapple and milk. In fact, people do add a variety of melons with papaya for nutritional benefits," he added.

"There are certain people who might have developed some kind of digestion issues due to a variety of other reasons when they eat these combinations along with them. This post is fake. There is no scientific evidence backing these kinds of claims," said Dr. Umesh.

Hence, the claim made in the post is false.