You've heard the phrase "the dose makes the poison," right? Well, recently Reddit user u/Crray0ns asked the people in r/AskReddit, "What's your favourite 'This much of this will kill you' fact?" Here are some of the most-upvoted responses:
Bear in mind that for many of these, it's the AMOUNT that people consume that kills them, not the item. It's also quite hard to eat or drink enough of many of these foods to become sick, never mind die — please don't be put off bananas if you're not allergic, for example! You physically can't eat enough to make you radioactive (more on that later...)
1. "Botulism (caused by exposure to botulinum toxins) is super lethal. It takes about 1 billionth of a gram per pound of body weight to kill a person. So if you weigh 200 pounds, just 0.00000002th of a gram can kill you."
2. "An ounce of polar bear liver contains enough vitamin A to kill you."
3. "Okay, it won't kill you, but theoretically, if you eat too many bananas (like, a lorry load of bananas) you won’t be able to come to my place of work because you will set off the radiation monitors."
4. "Nutmeg in large-but-not-nearly-as-large-as-you-might-think doses is a potent psychoactive that will basically make you go insane. Infamous heroin addict William S. Burroughs wrote that the only people he ever met whom he thought were truly beyond redemption were the nutmeg addicts."
5. "Eating 50 or more Brazil nuts a day might cause radiation poisoning."
6. "If you drink two litres of soy sauce you will die*."
7. "There used to be a website where you enter your height and weight, and it would tell you how many of different caffeinated drinks it would take to kill you. I don't think that site is still around."
8. "I remember a news story a couple of years ago where some guy died because he would eat a bag and a half of black licorice every day."
9. "Six litres of water within three hours can kill you. That's why the kid who could suck up a water bottle in an instant said he could only do it two or three times a day."
10. "Ointments with methyl salicylate can harm you if you use too much of it on your body, especially too often. A teen died some years back after using a few types of muscle balms and adhesive pads at the same time."
11. "Consuming too much cinnamon powder in one sitting can potentially lead to death by cinnamon challenge gone horribly wrong."
12. "Only four or five uncooked kidney beans are toxic and will make you sick. Not sure how many it would take to kill you."
13. "Salt. 35-70g full of salt will kill a 70kg person."
14. "You can die from alcohol poisoning* by drinking vanilla extract."
15. "150 or more crushed apple seeds could technically kill you, as they contain cyanide."
16. "40 cups of coffee is lethal."
17. "Every part of the oleander bush is extremely toxic to humans and can be deadly in even small doses."
Shout out to u/Crray0ns and r/AskReddit for having this discussion.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.