So the annual sprout-eating ritual approaches.   Every Christmas, this one vegetable divides opinion – some of us love them, some of us hate them, but eating them can have some, er, embarrassing consequences…

Sprouts, along with onions, beans and dairy products, are hard to digest in the stomach and small intestine because our bodies can’t produce the enzymes needed to break down some of the chemical components they contain.

However, the presence of flatulence seems to be the least of our worries!

Last Christmas, a man from Ayrshire was hospitalised after eating too many Brussels sprouts!  The reason?  Well this controversial vegetable contains Vitamin K, a chemical the body uses to promote blood clotting and while it does this, it also counteracts anticoagulants (used in blood-thinning medication).

This poor man was prescribed  anticoagulants after suffering heart failure in 2011, and his dose was monitored  weekly to prevent blood clotting.  However, when his blood started to clot  close to Christmas last year and he was admitted to Hospital, the doctors could not  understand why his medication was not keeping his blood thin until he told them  he’d been eating lots of sprouts!

So there’s your excuse … if you don’t want to eat sprouts with your festive turkey, instead of saying you don’t like them, just tell your host that they’re bad for your health!!!