'100 children died from eating litchis on empty stomach'

More than 100 children died of mystery illness for eating litchis on an empty stomach in a year in northern India, according to a research.

The children awakened with a high-pitch cry in the early morning. They began having seizures and slipping into comas. In about 40 percent of cases, they died, reports The New York Times.

Beginning in 1995, investigations variously ascribed the phenomenon to heat stroke; to infections carried by rats, bats or sand flies; or to pesticides used in the region's ubiquitous litchi orchards. But there were few signposts for investigators.

The study published in the medical journal The Lancet now finds that they were poisoned by the fruit.

The USA and Indian scientists conducted the study in 2014 to investigate the cause and risk factors of outbreaks of an acute neurological illness with high mortality among children in Muzaffarpur, the country's largest litchi cultivation region.

Hypoglycin

Examining sick children admitted to hospital in Muzaffarpur between May and July 2014, researchers found a link to an outbreak of sickness that caused brain swelling and convulsions in children in the Caribbean.

That outbreak was caused by the ackee fruit. It contained hypoglycin, a toxin that prevents the body from making glucose. Tests showed Litchis also contained hypoglycin.

The toxins in the Litchis inhibit the body's ability to produce glucose, affecting young children whose blood sugar levels were already low due to not having dinner in the study area.

Following the investigation, health officials in 2015 began urging parents in the area to be sure to feed young children an evening meal and to limit their consumption of litchis.

The number of reported cases per year dropped to less than 50 from hundreds, The New York Times added.