Movies

How Realistic Was the Poisonous Fruit on The White Lotus?

BBG News

In the initial episode of The White Lotus, the creators subtly introduced the lethal nature of the Thai pong pong tree.

In simpler terms, the Saxon queried, “What should I occupy myself with for a whole week without my phone?” To which hotel employee Pam replied, “We do have an abundance of delicious fruits here, but please don’t eat those. Those are from the pong pong tree, and its seeds are harmful.

In the final scene, Tim Ratliff carelessly threw pong pong seeds into a blender, leading unintentionally to Lochlan’s poisoning. Remarkably, Lochlan recovered. However, the accuracy of this depiction has been called into question. We reached out to medical experts to clarify the facts about the infamous “suicide tree” and how Lochlan miraculously survived.

The “suicide tree” is famous in Southeast Asia

During the course of The White Lotus, Ben Namam has constantly been asked by his friends if the tree he often posts about is real: “Absolutely, I told them.” Known as the “suicide tree” or the pong pong tree (Cerbera odollam), it is abundant in regions like India, Thailand, and Pacific Islands, according to Namam, who is the director of medicinal plants research at San Diego Botanic Garden.

Intrigued by the pong pong tree, I find it fascinating yet cautionary. While each of its parts carries a certain level of toxicity, the seeds hold the most potency. Regrettably, this tree has a history of serving as a means for both lethal acts and taking one’s life in Southeast Asia.

It’s not surprising to consider these trees as part of the White Lotus estate, given their toxic nature, which has been recognized for centuries. “People have long been aware of the tree’s lethal qualities,” he points out. If you reside in regions where pong pong trees are common, you would likely be brought up with knowledge about the tree’s potential hazards. According to Namam, such information is often passed down within families or even taught in schools.

It kills by targeting the heart

The seeds of the pong pong tree hold cardiac glycosides, similar to those found in plants such as foxglove and oleander. These substances can have profound effects on heart function. Notably, the specific cardiac glycosides in the pong pong tree (such as cerberin, cerberoside, and neriifolin) are highly toxic. They work by disrupting the heart’s electrical system – a crucial mechanism that triggers small electric shocks to make the heart contract or beat, thereby pumping blood throughout the body.

According to Dr. Mary Wermuth, a medical toxicologist at Indiana University Health, for the heart to continue functioning properly, it requires a particular balance of electrolytes such as sodium and potassium. If these seeds are ingested, they can interfere with this balance, causing what she describes as “poisoning the pump.” This results in issues like slow heart rate, low blood pressure, a mismatch between the upper and lower chambers of the heart, and potentially, death. Additionally, consumption may lead to hyperkalemia, which is an excessively high level of potassium in the body.

It can be a horrible way to die

Consuming pong pong seeds might lead some individuals to feel weak and dizzy as their heart rate slows significantly, potentially leading to death. Others may endure prolonged vomiting spells for hours on end, with their body attempting to expel everything due to an attack, as described by Namam. This violent response can cause severe vomiting, along with diarrhea, leaving the affected person hunched over and unable to stand upright. The impact on each individual cannot be accurately predicted, he notes.

Wouldn’t you taste it in a smoothie?

According to Yvan Gaillard, a French toxicologist at the Laboratory of Analytical Toxicology, the seeds from the pong pong tree possess a “fairly bitter flavor.” However, this bitterness can be concealed in stronger or more bitter drinks such as coffee, or even sweet drinks. As for incorporating it into something like Lochlan’s shake, Gailland reassures us, “There’s no issue if the seeds have been well-ground and added ahead of time.

All that puking was spot-on

In “The White Lotus”, Lochlan vomited into the pool and subsequently appeared to be dead. Dr. Joshua King, medical director of the Maryland Poison Center, finds this scene to be a realistic depiction. (Dr. King happened to miss the finale as he was on his way home from a medical toxicology conference, where the show’s portrayal of the pong pong tree was a popular discussion point.)

The act of vomiting is frequently linked with the consumption of pong pong seeds, as research indicates. As King explains, a variety of toxins can trigger this response. In essence, vomiting serves as our body’s protective mechanism against harmful substances. For instance, rats are unable to vomit, making rat poison highly effective. Conversely, humans tend to vomit when they ingest something toxic. However, vomiting does not always mean the toxin has been completely expelled from your system, and it may have already impacted Lochlan’s heart, as King points out.

It all happened too quickly

In the finale, Dr. Michael Levine, an emergency medicine physician at UCLA Health, noticed that certain plot points seemed implausible. For instance, Lochlan seemed to fall ill almost instantaneously after drinking the tainted smoothie, which is not a common response. “The timing is indeed unusual,” he comments. “In reality, I wouldn’t expect someone to become unconscious, and then just two minutes later, their father would be holding them, saying ‘Return to me,’ and they would immediately recover.

Levine suggests a clearer representation would be for symptoms to appear at least an hour following consumption. In a study of six cases involving pong pong seed ingestion reported to US poison control centers, Wermuth discovered that the timeframe between consuming the seeds and symptom onset varied significantly. Two individuals developed symptoms after three hours, while another took 15 hours for symptoms to manifest. Wermuth notes that despite the tree not being native to the U.S., pong pong seeds can easily be purchased online. Due to their widespread availability on the internet, emergency physicians should have a heightened awareness of these seeds.

So why didn’t Lochlan die?

Paracelsus, a Swiss doctor, famously stated, “The quantity determines the venom.” This principle is often repeated by medical toxicologists, as Wermuth explains: Anything can be harmful if taken in excessive amounts. It seems unlikely that Lochlan ingested enough pong pong seeds for them to be fatal, given the quantity he consumed.

Toxin levels in various natural sources can’t be definitively linked to a specific lethal amount. According to Wermuth, several factors influence this, such as the age of the plant. She explains, “Is it a young sapling with minimal toxins, or an older plant containing higher amounts of toxins?” The exact quantity that could prove fatal is highly unpredictable, she says, adding, “It’s not like you consumed 325 acetaminophen tablets. Predicting toxicity in such cases would be straightforward. However, when it comes to natural substances, it’s more of a gamble.

It’s possible that only Tim may have had enough of the toxic substance in his special piña coladas to make him sick, as the others might not have consumed enough for it to affect them. This is according to Wermuth’s interpretation, suggesting that if the cardiac glycoside was spread out among the other ingredients in the drink, it would be unlikely that anyone else would experience symptoms or harm.

Paging the nearest hospital

Instead of hurrying back to North Carolina, let’s cross our fingers that the Ratliffs managed to rush Lochlan to the emergency room quickly. Wermuth finds it hard to imagine he would have made it without prompt medical attention. “There’s no effective method for removing [the toxin] from your body,” she explains, but doctors usually administer medications designed to treat low heart rate and blood pressure, as well as high potassium levels.

As a movie-loving individual, I’d rephrase it as follows:

In my personal experience, there’s a sort of ‘counterbalance’ for pong pong seeds, though Dr. Wermuth warns that the term should be used lightly. A common medication known as digoxin, which is used to treat heart failure and atrial fibrillation, contains a dose of cardiac glycoside. This drug can help slow down your heart rate, she explains. However, if you take too much, it might cause more harm than good, leading to abnormal heart rhythms.

In such situations, patients are often given digoxin immune fab, which are essentially antibodies designed to work with varying efficacy. These antibodies are created by poisoning sheep with digoxin and then producing antibodies that can bind to the digoxin in your bloodstream. This process helps remove the excess digoxin from your system, specifically focusing on the heart.

Levine concurs that Lochlan likely required medical attention in a hospital; it was impractical for him to heal just by lounging poolside at the White Lotus. In simpler terms, he expresses, “I don’t think someone could heal that fast.

The seeds as a murder weapon

Lochlan was spared from death by the tree’s seeds—which makes him one of the lucky ones.

In a study headed by Gaillard, it was found that there were over 500 instances of fatal pong pong tree poisoning in Kerala, India between 1989 and 1999. As per their findings, the odollam tree might be responsible for more suicide deaths worldwide than any other plant. However, they suggested that the actual number of deaths (including homicides) could be significantly higher because identifying poisonings can be challenging for ordinary coroners. Furthermore, only a handful of labs globally are capable of detecting Cerbera toxins, which means that in most cases, the seeds would go unnoticed. It’s plausible that Lochlan’s ingestion of pong pong seeds might have gone undetected, similar to how Timothy Ratliff could potentially escape charges for money laundering.

Read More

2025-04-07 22:06

Previous post Post Malone Spotted Smooching Girlfriend in Paris
Next post Assassin’s Creed Shadows Title Update 1.0.2 Coming Tomorrow With Oft-Requested Features