Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren focal Bomb here with a classic episode from our erstwhile host, Christian Sager. Folk wisdom can give us some pretty strange advice on everything from healing wounds to predicting the weather or the sex of a baby, but some of it may be wiser than we think. Today's question is should you really avoid raw oysters during months whose names don't contain the letter R? Hey, brain stuff,
it's Christian Sager here. Did you know that every month sands, May, June, July, and August has the letter R in its name. Don't look it up, take my word for it. Did you also know there's an old wives tale that you shouldn't eat raw oysters in months without the letter R in it. Once again, you don't need to look it up. I'm not gonna lie to you. The logic behind this is that if you eat oysters during these months, you could get sick. Sounds like crazy talk, right, and perhaps so,
perhaps not. But if you think about it, the months without an are fall during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and the truth is that if you eat raw oysters in the summer you do run the risk of getting violently sick. That's because, and let me tell you this
does not come from an old wife. When the weather is warm, bacteria known as Vibrio vulnificious and Vibrio parahemoliticus thrive, and these pathogens multiply like nobody's business in warm water, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, where there are a lot of oysters harvested. So eating raw oysters during summer theoretically could increase your chances of becoming sick. Unlike chicken, pork, or hamburger, all of which stink to high heaven when they go bad, oysters do not, so you can't tell
when an oyster has turned the corner. They're also usually not rancid to the taste. However, you'll feel the effects about twenty four to forty eight hours after eating an oyster that's gone bad with vibrio chills, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, you know the drill. In some people, high doses of vibrio can actually be life threatening, especially the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and people who drink too much alcohol. But let's be clear, infections caused by all Vibrio species
are rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates they're about eighty thousand Vibrio illnesses of all types each year in the United States. More than half are related to eating contaminated food. The most common strain, Vibrio parahemolyticus, is responsible for forty thod illnesses annually. Those numbers are a drop in the bucket compared to salmonila, which the c d C says is responsible for more than one
million illnesses each year. Those eating oysters harvested from the Gulf Coast, where the water typically is warmer than along the East and West coasts, should be on guard. That's because Vibrio thrives when the water temperature near sixty eight degrees fahrenheit or twenty degrees celsius. So if you're going to saddle up to an oyster bar during the summer months and are concerned whether these slimy suckers are contamidated,
well asked the chef where they're harvested from. Most chefs are reliable and only by from reputable fisheries and purveyors they trust. Or you can just stick to the cold water East or West Coast oysters until the chillier months return in the Gulf. Today's episode was written by John Paritano, produced by Dylan Fagan, Lord Berlante, and Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.