Factropolis -- A new fun fact every day!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Many Native Americans are highly allergic to marshmallows.


See also:
- History of marshmallows
- Native American resources

keywords: food and drink, nature, culture and places, old west, allergen, food allergy, sugar, dessert, trivia, fun fact, fact of the day


10 Comments

  • Why would this be the case? All a marshmallow is is sugar. Is there a sugar allergy that's more prominent among Native Americans?

    By Anonymous Bill T, at July 09, 2006 2:46 PM  

  • I heard about this strange allergy in medical school. It's not specifically an allergy to sugar - they seem to be able to normally process regular sugar. But something about the oxygen/sugar ratio in marshmallows can wreak havoc on their metabolism. Scientists still don't know exactly why (although they may have figured it out by now - I went to med school in the late 70s). One more thing - this allergy doesn't lead to many hospitalizations, simply because most Native Americans avoid marshmallows.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at July 09, 2006 3:00 PM  

  • Google doesn't support this at all.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 04, 2007 7:27 PM  

  • I don't believe this. Could we get a USEFUL source for a change, and not some anonymous doctor who supposedly heard about this in medical school 30 years ago and who, for all we know, might just be a Factropolis editor? No? Oh, that's right...you make this crap up.

    By Anonymous Marshmallow Man, at March 24, 2008 10:49 PM  

  • Have any of you read the disclaimer for this site? Every thing on here is bullshit.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 28, 2008 9:33 PM  

  • dont be rude! just bc someone wants to give us a little fun info everyday doesn't mean you have to be a B about it. if its not a fact, why would it be on FACTropolis? If your so interested, go make friends with hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, give them each a marshmallow and see what happens! SO THERE!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 15, 2008 10:36 PM  

  • First, it's "don't", not "dont". Notice the apostrophe. It's there because the word "don't" is a contraction of "do not".

    Next, what the hell is a B? How can somebody be the letter "B"? If you meant "bitch", then I implore you to either type the word out or don't use it. You've already made me THINK about the word, so you might as well type it.

    "If its [sic] not a fact, why would it be on FACTropolis?"

    Oh yeah, that's really good logic. I think I'll start calling myself Doctor Smith. When people say that I'm not a doctor and my last name isn't Smith, I'll just hit them with this brilliant logic: "Then why would I call myself DOCTOR SMITH?"

    "If your so interested"

    YOU'RE. YOU'RE. YOU'RE. If you can't use contractions properly, then don't use them at all!

    "go make friends with hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, give them each a marshmallow and see what happens! SO THERE!"

    That would be impractical, and besides, the burden of proof is never on the skeptic. Besides, I'm not interested. I only visit this site periodically to see what garbage they've spewn out lately. I don't know why - it makes me mad to see people like yourself who are completely uncritical of it. I wonder what else you accept without questioning.

    Here's another piece of free advice: Stop believing everything you read. Oh, and learn some grammar and spelling, please. You shoot your own argument in the foot when you cannot express it coherently.

    By Anonymous Marshmallow Man, at January 07, 2009 4:13 PM  

  • Arguments do not have feet.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at January 12, 2009 3:03 PM  

  • My daughter is allergic to marshmallows, we aren't full native americans, but I have 2 grandparents who are. I am in no way saying that means this post is true though!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 13, 2009 12:14 AM  

  • So much hate! Isn't marshmallow root a type of organic alcohol? And aren't Native Americans typically allergic to alcohol?

    It doesn't seem like too much of a leap of faith to see a link here. I say give them the benefit of the doubt.

    By Anonymous Fact-O-Tron, at November 23, 2009 8:42 AM  

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