Why Twitter Finds Rihanna's Mango-Dipping So Concerning

According to Rihanna, the best way to enjoy fruit is to soak it in the ocean right before eating it. If you don't live in a coastal town with access to sea salt from the beach, then it seems a bit of table salt will do. "It has to be with salt and only with salt, because in Barbados we take our fruits to the ocean and soak them," she told Vogue in an April interview. "Trust me, it really is a thing."

Knowing this, when images of the singer knee-deep in the ocean submerging a mango in the water went viral, it wasn't too hard to figure out what she was doing (via News 18). Soon after the photos were shared, people started testing out the tradition for themselves, too. One Twitter user even shared a video of them trying the Barbados tradition with the caption, "Went to Roatan to dip my mango in the ocean like Rihanna! And it's so good!!!"

Whether the salt-fruit combo is appetizing or not is up to individual taste, but some people on the internet were quick to issue warnings about the emerging trend.

As more tweets popped up of individuals dunking their fruit in the ocean, Twitter users started issuing warnings about the potential side effects of the trend. "Rihanna has access to healthcare that you don't have. Don't do ocean mangoes," one user tweeted. Others made jokes about the potential bacteria that could be in the water. "Tried this on vacation and it was the best digestive cleanse Ive had in my life. Hospitalized for 3 days and needed an IV but lost 15 lbs and released every toxin in my body," one user wrote.

In large amounts, seawater is toxic to humans because of the amount of salt in the liquid. "While humans can safely ingest small amounts of salt, the salt content in seawater is much higher than what can be processed by the human body," the National Ocean Service shared. While the amount of saltwater ingested from dipping fruit in the ocean is minimal, there are other considerations too. In 2017, photographer David Littschwager shared an image of a drop of water magnified 25 times. According to Mic, it's easy to see bacteria, zooplankton, worms, and larvae in the few drops of water captured in the photograph.

As one user wrote, "Rihanna had to dip mango in the ocean for people to find out people salt their fruit." If you want to try Rihanna's fruit advice, you can always sprinkle a little salt from your pantry.