THURSDAY, March 29, 2012— If you’ve never heard of a cinnamon challenge, you might think it sounds like a good idea — a baking competition, maybe? But cinnamon challenges have nothing to do with French toast.
Here’s the idea: You down a straight spoonful of ground or powdered cinnamon without water. For what, you ask? No reason, really, just something to do. Teens most often pull the stunt on a dare. Many even film it.
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A YouTube search for “cinnamon challenge” brings up more than 32,000 results. Some were uploaded as long as four years ago.
The trend — though not new — is growing, evidenced by statistics from the American Association of Poison Control Center’s National Poison Data System. In all of 2011, U.S. poison centers received 51 calls related to cinnamon exposure among teens. But in the first three months of 2012 alone they received 139 calls, 122 of which they classified intentional misuse or abuse, according to a release from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC). Thirty of these cinnamon eaters, they report, needed medical evaluation.
That’s a big popularity jump.
So this week poison centers across the country are warning parents about cinnamon challenges. “We urge parents and caregivers to talk to their teens about the cinnamon challenge, explaining that what may seem like a silly game can have serious health consequences,” says Alvin C. Bronstein, MD, FACEP, managing and medical director for the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver, Co., in the AAPCC’s release.
Cinnamon Symptoms
吞下一勺肉桂的影响ren’t so funny. The cinnamon dries in your mouth and throat, making it tough to swallow. Expect gagging, choking, and even vomiting. Unintentionally breathing the cinnamon into your lungs also puts you at risk forpneumonia, Dr. Bronstein says in the release.
Additionally,asthmaticsare likelier to experience more serious respiratory problems such asshortness of breathor trouble breathing from taking a spoonful of the spice.
Andy Nish, MD, FAAAAI, president of the Allergy and Asthma Care Center in Gainesville, Ga., says a cinnamon challenge can cause inflammation and permanent scarring in thelungs.
“Even people with normal lungs have had serious consequences from the cinnamon challenge, such as winding up in the intensive care unit on a breathing machine,” he says. “We know people with asthma already have inflammation in their lungs and that their airways are hyper reactive, or 'twitchy,' putting them at even greater risk of serious consequences from doing this.”
So when giving your teens the talk about steering clear of cigarettes,marijuana, and the prescription drugs in your medicine cabinet, you may want to warn them to stay out of your spice rack too.
