Sweet, high in vitamin C — and genuinely dangerous eaten unripe on an empty stomach.
Lychee is a tropical fruit with translucent white flesh and a distinctive floral sweetness.
It is high in vitamin C and low in fibre.
It also carries a serious and specific
warning. Unripe lychees contain hypoglycin A and MCPG, compounds that block the body's ability
to make glucose. Clusters of child deaths in litchi-growing regions of India and Bangladesh
were traced to undernourished children eating large quantities of unripe lychees on an empty
stomach, causing severe hypoglycaemia.
Ripe lychees eaten after a meal are safe. The
combination that causes harm is unripe fruit, large quantity, empty stomach, and an already
undernourished child.
Per 100g of peeled fruit.
Based on the nutrients and fibre this food supplies. These are supporting foods, not treatments.
Never eat unripe lychees, and never on an empty stomach. Especially
relevant for children. Ripe fruit after a meal is the safe pattern.
Ripe
lychees are pink-red and give slightly. Green-tinged or hard fruit is
underripe.
They do not ripen after picking, so buy them
ready.
Peel from the stem end — the shell splits easily
there.
Hypoglycin A and its relative MCPG interfere with gluconeogenesis and fatty acid
oxidation — the two processes the body uses to maintain blood glucose when food runs
out. Concentrations are highest in unripe fruit and fall as it ripens.
In a
well-nourished person who has eaten, the body has glycogen stores to fall back on and nothing
happens. In a child who skipped dinner and ate unripe fruit in quantity, those stores are
already depleted and the block becomes dangerous. The mechanism explains exactly why the
warning is so specific.
Unripe lychees can cause severe hypoglycaemia, particularly in children
who have not eaten. Only eat ripe fruit, and not on an empty stomach.
Diabetes: whole fruit over juice, portion aware, and better eaten
with protein or fat than alone.
IBS: several fruits are high-FODMAP
and commonly trigger symptoms — tolerance is personal.
Kidney
disease: potassium may need limiting. Ask your doctor for your numbers.
This is information, not a prescription. If you are managing a diagnosed condition or taking medication, talk to your doctor before making a large change to your diet.
Nutrition figures on this page come from standard food composition data. These links let you check the numbers and read the underlying research yourself rather than taking our word for it.