Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren focal Bomb here with a classic
Speaker 1: episode from our erstwhile host, Christian Sager. Folk wisdom can
Speaker 1: give us some pretty strange advice on everything from healing
Speaker 1: wounds to predicting the weather or the sex of a baby,
Speaker 1: but some of it may be wiser than we think.
Speaker 1: Today's question is should you really avoid raw oysters during
Speaker 1: months whose names don't contain the letter R? Hey, brain stuff,
Speaker 1: it's Christian Sager here. Did you know that every month sands, May, June, July,
Speaker 1: and August has the letter R in its name. Don't
Speaker 1: look it up, take my word for it. Did you
Speaker 1: also know there's an old wives tale that you shouldn't
Speaker 1: eat raw oysters in months without the letter R in it.
Speaker 1: Once again, you don't need to look it up. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie to you. The logic behind this is
Speaker 1: that if you eat oysters during these months, you could
Speaker 1: get sick. Sounds like crazy talk, right, and perhaps so,
Speaker 1: perhaps not. But if you think about it, the months
Speaker 1: without an are fall during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere,
Speaker 1: and the truth is that if you eat raw oysters
Speaker 1: in the summer you do run the risk of getting
Speaker 1: violently sick. That's because, and let me tell you this
Speaker 1: does not come from an old wife. When the weather
Speaker 1: is warm, bacteria known as Vibrio vulnificious and Vibrio parahemoliticus thrive,
Speaker 1: and these pathogens multiply like nobody's business in warm water,
Speaker 1: especially in the Gulf of Mexico, where there are a
Speaker 1: lot of oysters harvested. So eating raw oysters during summer
Speaker 1: theoretically could increase your chances of becoming sick. Unlike chicken, pork,
Speaker 1: or hamburger, all of which stink to high heaven when
Speaker 1: they go bad, oysters do not, so you can't tell
Speaker 1: when an oyster has turned the corner. They're also usually
Speaker 1: not rancid to the taste. However, you'll feel the effects
Speaker 1: about twenty four to forty eight hours after eating an
Speaker 1: oyster that's gone bad with vibrio chills, fever, vomiting, diarrhea,
Speaker 1: you know the drill. In some people, high doses of
Speaker 1: vibrio can actually be life threatening, especially the elderly, those
Speaker 1: with compromised immune systems, and people who drink too much alcohol.
Speaker 1: But let's be clear, infections caused by all Vibrio species
Speaker 1: are rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates
Speaker 1: they're about eighty thousand Vibrio illnesses of all types each
Speaker 1: year in the United States. More than half are related
Speaker 1: to eating contaminated food. The most common strain, Vibrio parahemolyticus,
Speaker 1: is responsible for forty thod illnesses annually. Those numbers are
Speaker 1: a drop in the bucket compared to salmonila, which the
Speaker 1: c d C says is responsible for more than one
Speaker 1: million illnesses each year. Those eating oysters harvested from the
Speaker 1: Gulf Coast, where the water typically is warmer than along
Speaker 1: the East and West coasts, should be on guard. That's
Speaker 1: because Vibrio thrives when the water temperature near sixty eight
Speaker 1: degrees fahrenheit or twenty degrees celsius. So if you're going
Speaker 1: to saddle up to an oyster bar during the summer
Speaker 1: months and are concerned whether these slimy suckers are contamidated,
Speaker 1: well asked the chef where they're harvested from. Most chefs
Speaker 1: are reliable and only by from reputable fisheries and purveyors
Speaker 1: they trust. Or you can just stick to the cold
Speaker 1: water East or West Coast oysters until the chillier months
Speaker 1: return in the Gulf. Today's episode was written by John Paritano,
Speaker 1: produced by Dylan Fagan, Lord Berlante, and Tyler Clang. For
Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other topics, visit how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit
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