A doctor and TikTok influencer has gone viral after sharing a list of five foods to avoid for health reasons.
The warning came from Dr Jessica Kiss, a family medicine specialist and trained doctor who regularly shares health advice under her TikTok moniker @askdrmom.
“Here are five things I will never eat as a doctor,” she says at the start of the video. “The last one is super weird but very important.”
The first of Dr Kiss’s no-no’s was: reheated rice. As she explains, boiled rice, when left at room temperature, cultivates a type of bacteria known as B cereus. If rice is then reheated inefficiently in the microwave, this bacteria and its spores are then “reactivated”.
“Eat once,” she says. “If you’re gonna’ have it in like a rice cooker situation and on warm it’s probably going to be fine… but if it comes to room temperature, don’t eat it again.”
The second of Dr Kiss’s forbidden foods was “picnic food”. As she explains, the fact that picnic food is typically left out means that there is a much elevated risk of food-borne illness.
“After holiday weekends, you are inundated with people who are sick with food borne illness,” she says.
Thirdly, Dr Kiss advocated against eating foods that are unnaturally coloured, and come in bright pinks or neons. While this one isn’t an “absolute” rule, the influencer explained: “Ninety-nine percent of the time I’m not gonna eat things that are covered in food dye.
“It’s just not good for your system… I avoid that like the plague.”
The fourth category to avoid, per Dr Kiss, is food from cans that appear dented. “If a can is dented and I wasn’t the one that watched me drop it like right then and there, I’m going to be concerned about botulism,” she says.
If a can of food is dropped, and dented, there is a risk of air and moisture getting in, which can lead to the serious illness of botulism.
“Botulism is not a fun thing,” she continues. “So I just won’t eat it. It is not worth the $1.50 if I had means to get a can that is not dented.”
The fifth, and arguably most surprising, entry on the list is actually a type of fruit: grapefruit.
The reason Dr Kiss advises caution when eating grapefruit is because it can interact harmfully with “a tonne” of prescription medications.
She says: “If you’re on any medication for any reason you should always check to make sure there’s no interaction with grapefruit that changes the way the medication impacts your body.”
