This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A few months ago, a friend of mine told me that his father-in-law had been rushed to the hospital after eating some wild honey brought back from the hills of Nepal. Within about 30 minutes, his heart rate had dropped dangerously low, and his blood pressure had collapsed.
He recovered, but the episode was terrifying for the whole family. As a chemical ecologist from Nepal, I knew immediately what had happened. My friend's father-in-law had eaten wild honey, known locally as "bhir mauri ko maha," from the Himalayan cliff bee.
These bees forage on rhododendron flowers that carry a natural toxin called grayanotoxin. As bees collect the nectar, the toxin ends up concentrated in the honey. This is what's now popularized worldwide as "mad honey." Eat a teaspoonful, and you might feel pleasantly warm and slightly lightheaded.
Eat more than a few tablespoons, and your heart rate can drop to life-threatening levels. The exact amount that causes harm varies by batch, season and location. The Indigenous Gurung people of Nepal have built up knowledge of safe doses over generations.
But that knowledge is being lost as wild Himalayan honey has begun to be sold on major international online platforms. For over a decade, I have studied how insects and plants fight each other using chemistry. Plants make toxic compounds, insects figure out ways to store or use those toxins, and the whole arms race plays out over millions of years.
This fascinating world of insects and plants usually stays far from human lives. But mad honey is bringing toxic compounds into contact with humans, creating a public health problem. When I investigated, I found that doctors were publishing individual case reports, but no one had looked at the bigger picture.
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