A 59-year-old man in Nepal ate three to four teaspoons of locally sourced honey, roughly 15 to 20 milliliters. About 60 to 80 minutes later, he was nauseated, vomiting repeatedly, and dizzy. His heart rate had fallen to 42 beats per minute, and his blood pressure had dropped to 60/40.
The culprit was mad honey, made by bees that feed on nectar from certain rhododendron species containing natural toxins called grayanotoxins. The case, published March 27 in the International Journal of Emergency Medicine by physicians from Mercy City Hospital in Rupandehi, Nepal, and colleagues at other institutions in Nepal, India, and the U.K., shows how a small amount of a folk remedy can produce a classic toxic reaction.
