Fact Check: Carbonated drinks, mangoes are high on sugar, but together, can't kill you
A post has gone viral on social media claiming that if a person consumes a carbonated drink or a cold drink immediately after having a mango it can be fatal.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 12 Jun 2021 7:46 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A post has gone viral on social media claiming that if a person consumes a carbonated drink or a cold drink immediately after having a mango it can be fatal.
The post has a screenshot of a Hindi newspaper that describes an incident that took place in Chandigarh. It is titled, 'Be careful after eating mangoes...', referring to an incident in Chandigarh where some persons died after drinking cold drinks after eating mangoes. According to the post, drinking cold drinks immediately after eating mangoes produces citric acid and carbonic acid which are claimed to be poisonous.
Fact Check
The claim made through the post is False.
Claim 1: When NewsMeter searched for reports of deaths caused by drinking carbonated drinks after eating mangoes, we found none.
We then spoke to Dr Jyoti Chabria, senior consultant, nutritionist and director of Nutriline about the viral claim.
She said that these claims are just a hoax. But she warned against consuming carbonated drinks because of the excess amount of sugar in these drinks. "We definitely do not recommend that mango and carbonated drinks should be consumed together. However, one thing to note is that carbonic beverages, especially aerated (gas-filled) beverages and mangoes are high in sugar. In such a situation, if you consume both, it results in an increase of glycemic index and load," she said.
It is highly recommended that everyone moderates the intake of mango and carbonated drinks.
Claim 2: The screenshot mentioned an incident in Chandigarh claims a couple of persons died after they consumed carbonated drinks immediately after having mangoes. It was also mentioned that when they were taken to the hospital and the doctor there also confirmed this as the reason.
NewsMeter then tried to search if any mainstream media had reported the incident. However, we did not find any such news being reported or said to have taken place in Chandigarh. The screenshot did not have any mention the name of the doctor or the hospital in Chandigarh.
The screenshot has no dateline either.
A piece of similar news was debunked by the Bangalore Times on 28 April, 2017 titled "Fake News Buster: Death by drinking coke after mango". The report had stated that there are no credible medical or news reports that confirm this theory. Mangoes and coke do not and cannot combine to form a deadly poison as claimed. These are foods that are eaten together by many people around the world with no ill effect whatsoever.
Therefore, the post claiming that consuming carbonated drinks and eating mangoes together can be fatal is false.
