BrainStuff Classics: Are There Months When You Shouldn't Eat Raw Oysters?

Folk wisdom dictates that you should avoid eating oysters, especially raw, in months that don't contain the letter R in their name. Learn why there's some logic there in this classic episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Hey brain Stuff, Lauren focal Bomb here with a classic
episode from our erstwhile host, Christian Sager. Folk wisdom can
give us some pretty strange advice on everything from healing
wounds to predicting the weather or the sex of a baby,
but some of it may be wiser than we think.

(00:22):
Today's question is should you really avoid raw oysters during
months whose names don't contain the letter R? Hey, brain stuff,
it's Christian Sager here. Did you know that every month sands, May, June, July,
and August has the letter R in its name. Don't

(00:42):
look it up, take my word for it. Did you
also know there's an old wives tale that you shouldn't
eat raw oysters in months without the letter R in it.
Once again, you don't need to look it up. I'm
not gonna lie to you. The logic behind this is
that if you eat oysters during these months, you could
get sick. Sounds like crazy talk, right, and perhaps so,

(01:05):
perhaps not. But if you think about it, the months
without an are fall during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere,
and the truth is that if you eat raw oysters
in the summer you do run the risk of getting
violently sick. That's because, and let me tell you this
does not come from an old wife. When the weather
is warm, bacteria known as Vibrio vulnificious and Vibrio parahemoliticus thrive,

(01:32):
and these pathogens multiply like nobody's business in warm water,
especially in the Gulf of Mexico, where there are a
lot of oysters harvested. So eating raw oysters during summer
theoretically could increase your chances of becoming sick. Unlike chicken, pork,
or hamburger, all of which stink to high heaven when

(01:55):
they go bad, oysters do not, so you can't tell
when an oyster has turned the corner. They're also usually
not rancid to the taste. However, you'll feel the effects
about twenty four to forty eight hours after eating an
oyster that's gone bad with vibrio chills, fever, vomiting, diarrhea,

(02:17):
you know the drill. In some people, high doses of
vibrio can actually be life threatening, especially the elderly, those
with compromised immune systems, and people who drink too much alcohol.
But let's be clear, infections caused by all Vibrio species
are rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates

(02:38):
they're about eighty thousand Vibrio illnesses of all types each
year in the United States. More than half are related
to eating contaminated food. The most common strain, Vibrio parahemolyticus,
is responsible for forty thod illnesses annually. Those numbers are

(03:00):
a drop in the bucket compared to salmonila, which the
c d C says is responsible for more than one
million illnesses each year. Those eating oysters harvested from the
Gulf Coast, where the water typically is warmer than along
the East and West coasts, should be on guard. That's
because Vibrio thrives when the water temperature near sixty eight

(03:22):
degrees fahrenheit or twenty degrees celsius. So if you're going
to saddle up to an oyster bar during the summer
months and are concerned whether these slimy suckers are contamidated,
well asked the chef where they're harvested from. Most chefs
are reliable and only by from reputable fisheries and purveyors
they trust. Or you can just stick to the cold

(03:45):
water East or West Coast oysters until the chillier months
return in the Gulf. Today's episode was written by John Paritano,
produced by Dylan Fagan, Lord Berlante, and Tyler Clang. For
more on this and lots of other topics, visit how
stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of

(04:07):
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit
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