Vitamins or poison?

Spring is the time that pleases not only the eye, but also… stomach. The early appearance of fresh vegetables at bazaars and stores undoubtedly pleases the majority of countryman, who has already missed for something fresh for half a year. Transcarpathians will not be scared even by quite high prices for fruits of this year’s first harvest.

The body needs vitamins and you do not want to skimp. Especially when there is a variety of colors on the shelves: radishes, lettuce, parsleys with dill, green onion, cucumbers and tomatoes and, of course, Prime Minister’s favorite product – cabbage. It is well known that the first fruits are the most ‘chemical’. The editorial office of our edition has received already several complaints from readers about the cases of poisoning with the early vegetables since the beginning of spring.

In order to find out whether the content of substances hazardous to health in early products is controlled in our region, we approached the regional sanitary and epidemiological stations. As the chief sanitary doctor Vladimir Markovich commented in the newspaper ‘Zamok’: ‘Certainly, we are checking the early vegetable products on the nitrites content and nitrates, but our experts have not found any significant excesses so far. Although we control all types of vegetables: cabbage, cucumbers, radishes, etc’.

Instead, Vladimir Petrovich named another possible cause of the early vegetables consumers’ health problems: ‘I want to note, that ‘chemicals’ are not always the reason of poisoning at the beginning of the new spring vegetable season. Human organism rearranged during autumn-winter seasons. That is why with the spring change in ration the enzymatic system is not always adequately responds to early vegetables-fruits. Therefore we recommend people who are faced with the digestive disorders problem after eating early vegetables or fruits, to apply to gastroenterologists. They can give an exact explanation of this problem’.

The head of the gastroenterological department of Uzhgorod City Hospital Alla Sichka agrees with this statement. ‘This spring we register quite a lot of poisoning cases. They are followed by enterokolitis, diarrhea, fever, vomiting. In particular, three patients turned to me after eating cucumbers. The high temperature precisely may indicate the presence of some hazardous substances in the body’ – explained Alla Semenivna.

Therefore the situation is not so clear. Even the experts cannot give a clear explanation about the reason of the poisoning. So to buy or not to buy early vegetables is the open question and everyone decides its own way. If you feel that your health is strong and the vegetables provider is reliable, you probably should not deny yourself pleasures to taste this year’s first harvest. It is better to wait for a while if you have the slightest doubts. You must gradually ‘reconfigure’ your body to avoid infliction of serious harm.