Woman Rushed to Hospital After Live-Streaming Herself Eating 'Aloe Vera'

It wasn't really aloe vera
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 3, 2017 7:27 PM CDT
Woman Rushed to Hospital After Live-Streaming Herself Eating 'Aloe Vera'
This June 22, 2012, photo shows a 3-story Agave americana plant tended to by Ed and Joyce Ward for 36 years, in Chase, Kan.   (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Beccy Tanner)

A Chinese woman was live-streaming herself eating what she thought was aloe vera (said to have health benefits when eaten raw) when she abruptly realized something was very wrong. It turns out the 26-year-old, named in the media only as Zhang, was actually eating Agave Americana or "American aloe," a poisonous plant from Mexico, Shanghaiist reports. Though video of the woman shows her initially proclaiming the first bite as "great," Zhang quickly changed her tune, proclaiming the plant "really bitter." She later said her mouth went numb and her throat started burning, the Mirror reports. She ended up rushing herself to the hospital, having broken out in rashes and blisters, and doctors reportedly had to pump her stomach to save her life. (More strange stuff stories.)

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