Believe it or not, broken heart syndrome isn’t something that only exists in Shakespearean novels or romance movies. It’s a real condition, brought on by physical or emotional stress. Symptoms can include chest pain and shortness of breath, which often cause patients to believe they are having a heart attack. Also called Takotusubo cardiomyopathy and stress-induced cardiomyopathy, the condition occurs when extreme stress causes dysfunction or failure of the heart muscle.
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Broken heart syndrome is most often brought on by a devastating event, such as the loss of a loved one, a divorce or breakup. Patients have also experienced the condition as a response to a happy but overwhelming event, such as a surprise. Scientists believe this occurs due to the release of stress hormones that reduce the heart’s pumping action, temporarily, or cause it to contract wildly or too forcefully.
But for the first time, researchers have identified another possible cause of broken heart syndrome — food. According to a recently published study, a woman in her late 60s was at a wedding when she mistakenly ate a large amount of wasabi, thinking it was avocado. Immediately after consuming the wasabi, the woman felt pressure in her chest, which then traveled down her arms. The next morning, she visited a doctor and underwent an ECG scan. Doctors found that due to the large amount of wasabi she consumed, she was suffering from broken heart syndrome, which was disrupting the normal pumping of her heart.
The woman recovered, but the researchers noted it was the first reported case of broken heart syndrome triggered by any sort of food consumption. While wasabi offers a wide array of health benefits, the amount the woman consumed — unintentionally — may have put too much stress on her heart.
To learn more about the symptoms and causes of broken heart syndrome triggered by grief, along with tools to help you cope, read, “How Grief Can Break Your Heart.”