Brits warned taking a single bite of popular Thai dish can give you liver cancer

Even if a dish is apparently to die for, would you risk your health to try it?

Just a single bite of this popular Thai dish could cause you serious trouble, but some people just can't stop scoffing on the stuff despite the potentially deadly consequences.

Don't worry, your Pad See Ew and Tom Yum are safe - it's a much more niche bit of nosh that you should swerve on the menu if you ever visit Thailand.

The deadly delicacy is believed to be responsible for the deaths of a whopping 20,000 people in the country each year, prompting doctors to issue an urgent warning to people considering chowing down on it.

Now, while it's definitely not some scran you're likely to see on your local Thai takeaway menu, the dish in question is extremely popular in the Thai province of Khon Kaen.

It's known as koi pla and is made up of some pretty resourceful ingredients.

Risk takers who reckon they can stomach it will be served up a plate of minced raw fish ground up with herbs, spices, lime juice and live red ants.

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Millions of locals eat koi pla, but the meal is particularly popular in one of the nation’s poorest provinces, Isaan, and people aren't interested in the prospect of banning its consumption.

The problem with devouring it is that the fresh water fish caught in the Mekong region are packed with parasitic flatworms - or live flukes - that live inside them.

These parasites can cause cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, which can obviously make you gravely ill.

Isaan has the highest reported rates of this disease in the world due to the heavy consumption of the raw fish meal.

Experts have tried to encourage people to change their eating habits by cooking the koi pla to kill the flukes, however, locals claim that doing so completely ruins the taste.

One Thai doctor, Narong Khuntikeo, tragically lost both his parents to liver cancer after they ate the fish dish.

"It’s a very big health burden around here," the liver surgeon told Agence France-Presse.

He continued: "But nobody knows about this because they die quietly, like leaves falling from a tree."

The 'silent killer' disease has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers if left untreated by surgery, but the illness is often symptomless.

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If and when symptoms do emerge, sufferers may experience jaundice, weight loss, abdominal pain, changes in their toilet habits, itching of the skin and feeling generally unwell.

Khuntikeo has worked alongside a team scientists, doctors and anthropologists for four years testing villagers from the Isaan region for the parasite.

Using ultrasound machines and urine testing kits, the doctor found that as much as 80 percent of inhabitants from some communities were found to have ingested the deadly parasite.

While he's trying to spread information and warnings over the koi pla dish - alongside local health officials have introducing a school curriculum geared at teaching children about the risks of raw foods - Khuntikeo has said he's faced issues with the older generation.

"They’ll say: 'Oh well, there are many ways to die'," the health professional said. "But I cannot accept this answer."

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