Whenever we hear of delicacies and delicious foods our mouth starts watering. There are even times when a full stomach cannot resist the temptation of an appealing chocolate pie or a frothy pink strawberry shake. Even the very sight of colorful dishes on the dining table can uplift a gloomy and tired mood. But on the contrary, it is really shocking to know that food can be associated with diseases too. It is not the food that causes diseases but diseases that have been named after certain foods. These diseases are not always as funny as they sound, some might be quite serious as well and become fatal if not diagnosed in time. Here is a list of ten such diseases that have been named after food.
1. Blueberry muffin rash
Blueberry muffin is one of the most loved breakfast items, which is rich in calories and packed with blueberries. But the disease blueberry is a sort of allergy that occurs in the cutaneous layer of the skin of infants if they are, by any chance, exposed to the harmful rubella virus while still in the womb. But it is also to be noted that rubella is not the sole culprit behind this disease and there might be other infections too. This is characterized by the appearance of red and purple discoloration on the skin due to bleeding below the cutaneous layer. The disease may cause deafness, heart diseases and eye abnormalities.
2. Nutmeg liver
Alike cashew, pistachio, raisins and almonds, nutmeg is a dry fruit that is eaten with pleasure all over the world. But nutmeg liver is a medical condition of the liver characterized by chronic passive congestion. It is also called congestive heapatopathy. On occasion of sick heart conditions, blood is not pumped properly. This makes the blood get accumulate amidst the venous network of the liver. This makes the liver develop a microscopic, grated nutmeg look. The liver is finally damaged in such a condition, leading to fibrosis if the heart is not treated in time.
3. Watermelon Stomach
Watermelon Stomach is a disease that occurs when the blood vessels in the lower part of the stomach get dilated. The medical term of this disease is antral vascular ectasia. It is a rare disease and the cause behind the same is also yet to be discovered, even though one of the causes that have been found and that is the iron deficiency anemia and gastrointensinal bleeding. It is called watermelon stomach because the sufferer develops red streaks all over the lining of the stomach that resemble watermelon peel.
4. Cauliflower ear
Cauliflower ear is a disease of the ears as it is evident from its name. It occurs when the ears are subjected to repeated trauma. This is mostly found among wrestlers, martial arts experts and people like these who experience repeated blows on their ears. Due to this sudden shock the blood supply channels and the cartilage lying underneath the ear lobe gets damaged and starts inflating in such a way that it looks like a cauliflower. Once created, it can never become normal except expensive adherence to cosmetic surgery.
5. Strawberry gallbladder
Gallbladder is an important organ that releases bile juice produced in the liver to break down the food we eat and digest the fat in the diet. In conditions of excessive increase of cholesterol in the blood and its subsequent deposition in the gallbladder wall, the organ develops a stippled appearance, resembling the surface of a strawberry. This is when one suffers from strawberry gallbladder, which is medically known as cholesterolosis. The perfect cause of this disease remains unknown.
6. Chocolate cyst
This disease is experienced by women and is medically known as endometriosis of the ovary. It develops when the endometrial tissues find their way into the ovaries through the pelvic cavity instead of the uterus and starts developing cysts on one or both the ovaries. The cysts accumulate blood over time and turn brown in color. They finally rupture after excruciating pain and suffering. But the good news is that this condition can be treated with hormones or by surgical method.
7. Port wine stain
This is not a disease but a birth mark that is innocuous. This reddish purple stain, like that of wine, is caused due to the accumulation of inflamed blood vessels immediately beneath the epithelial layer of the skin. In the rarest of conditions it indicates at the presence of other diseases like Sturge Weber Syndrome or Klippel Trenaunay Weber Syndrome. This stain can be removed by repeated laser treatments.
8. Bread and butter pericarditis
Pericardium is a protective sac that encloses the heart. In situations when this sac gets contaminated by bacterial or viral infections or heart attack it takes the appearance of bread smeared with butter that have accidentally fallen down. This disease is caused due to fibrin, a protein that gets deposited on pericardium as a consequence. It is medically known as fibrinous pericarditis and can be treated with anti inflammatory or drugs or aspirin.
9. Currant jelly sputum
When Klesiella pneumoniae, a kind of pneumonia remains untreated for a prolonged period of time, blood, mucus, sputum and cellular debris gets collected in the passage of the lungs, forming currant jelly sputum. The culprit behind this is a bacterium which is prevalent in people already suffering from diabetes and other chronic lung diseases. The symptoms of the same are high fever, flu, etc.
10. Café au Lait spot
These are not diseases, but birth marks of light brownish color. The color of the spots resemble café us Lait. These are generally harmless. But in rare conditions Café au Lait spots can indicate the presence of other secondary diseases in a particular patient like tuberous sclerosis, Hunter syndrome, etc. If there are more than six such spots found in any person, with diameter of 5 mm to 15 mm, then it calls in for medical diagnosis for the presence of Neurofibramatosis I, a genetic disorder.
