EATING IMPROPERLY PROCESSED CASSAVA USED TO MAKE FUFU, GARI OR KONKONTE CAN CAUSE CYANIDE POISONING AND KONZO, AN IRREVERSIBLE NEUROLOGICAL DISEASE THAT CAUSES PARALYSIS
By Dr. (ND) Francis Appiah Naturopathic Doctor | Public Health Advocate Kofiappiah803@gmail.com WHAT IF THE CASSAVA ON YOUR PLATE COULD RELEASE CYANIDE? What if one of Ghana's most familiar staple foods could, under the wrong processing conditions, release a poisonous substance into the body? For millions of people, cassava is simply food. It is affordable, widely cultivated and deeply woven into everyday life. In Ghana, we eat cassava as fufu, gari, konkonte, akyɛkɛ, agbelima, agbelikaklo, yakeyake, boiled cassava, roasted cassava and other traditional foods. But there is something about cassava that every cassava-eating household should understand. Cassava naturally contains compounds called cyanogenic glycosides. The most important are linamarin and lotaustralin. When these compounds are broken down, they can release hydrogen cyanide, a poisonous substance. This does not mean that cassava is automatically poisonou...