Three generations of family nearly died after eating vegetables that left their blood 'chocolate coloured'

A family in China became seriously ill after an innocent mix-up in the kitchen led to several relatives being hospitalised with blood which appeared to be a 'chocolate colour'.

Cooking for friends and family members can often be a daunting task. Not only does a host need to balance numerous dietary requests but also make a meal that is to everyone's liking.

Get this wrong and you may end up with disgruntled and hungry dinner guests.

However, it can always be worse, with one family in Suzhou, China, being hospitalised with a potentially fatal illness after sharing a meal together.

The case, which occurred back in 2013 but was recently covered by medical YouTuber Bernard Hsu, @chubbyemu, involved three family members being hospitalised in the same month.

The family ate together on numerous occasions before several members became ill (Getty Stock Images)

The family - which included a 43-year-old male (Patient A), a 21-year-old female (Patient B, daughter of Patient A) and a 68-year-old female (Patient C, the mother of Patient A) and a non-ill family member - ate dinner together numerous times between 17 and 21 April.

The 17 April meal included a dish of sugar-mixed asparagus, which Patient A and Patient B consumed.

Around an hour after eating the dinner, both father and daughter were taken to hospital after complaining of symptoms such as dizziness, nausea and an accelerated heartbeat.

Both were hospitalised for several days.

On 20 April, Patient C would eat a meal which included stir-fried asparagus and became unwell shortly after, displaying similar symptoms to her son and granddaughter.

The nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness and increased heart rate weren't the only unusual symptoms experienced by Patients A, B and C either.

When doctors drew blood from one of the family members, they discovered it was an unusual 'chocolate colour' rather than red, which suggested there was an increased amount of methaemoglobin present in the blood.

Doctors were able to work out what was wrong with the family after realising their blood was 'chocolate coloured' due to a lack of oxygen (Getty Stock Images)

Known as methemoglobinemia, this occurs when red blood cells are unable to carry oxygen around the body, leading to symptoms of dizziness as the body becomes starved of oxygen.

Lowered oxygen levels in the blood would also explain why all three patients experienced lip cyanosis, which is a bluish discolouration of the lips.

What caused the family to become unwell?

During an investigation into the case, it was discovered that the non-ill family member had helped clean a neighbour's house a couple of days prior, taking a bag of what they believed to be sugar home.

This 'sugar' was used in the preparation of meals eaten by the family when Patients A, B and C all became unwell.

However, when the 'sugar' was tested by authorities, it turned out to contain high levels of sodium nitrite.

When a person is exposed to high levels of nitrite, the haemoglobin in their blood changes to methaemoglobin, and the body is deprived of oxygen, explaining what happened to the three family members.

Fortunately, methaemoglobinemia is treatable if caught early, with two of the patients receiving an injection of Methylene Blue, a substance which facilitates methaemoglobin being able to turn back into haemoglobin.

The family were ultimately able to make a recovery and learnt the important lesson of not using random substances found at a neighbour's house when cooking.