“Cinnamon Challenge” Could Pose Serious Risks

“Cinnamon Challenge” Could Pose Serious Risks

By Ryan Trowbridge - email
Posted about 6 hours ago

(ABC) – What seems like an innocent trick could actually pose a serious health risk. It’s become known as the Cinnamon Challenge – people trying to swallow a teaspoon of the spice without a drink of water.

It was Mary Poppins who said, “a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down…”

But a spoonful of cinnamon helps the internet go nuts.

It’s the viral dare that calls for swallowing cinnamon without drinking anything for sixty seconds.
There are hundreds of these videos online from YouTube to Facebook, even sites devoted to this so called “Cinnamon Challenge.”

It wasn’t too long ago we saw NBA players Nick Young and Javale McGee fail in this spice game.

Although it may seem to be all fun, there is also some serious health hazards.

“If you have some fine particles, like cinnamon], in your lungs, it may be hard to clear out,” says Dr. Robert Zaid of Providence Hospital.

Take Ann Arbor High School freshman Dejah Reed. “I was laughing. It got caught in my throat. I got dizzy and I just couldn’t breathe at all. It almost killed me that night,” she says.

Her father never expected a viral craze would result in his daughter in the emergency room. “She was in and out of consciousness…really pale, she couldn’t breathe at all,” he says.

Dejah spent four days in the hospital. She’s lucky. There is evidence it can cause long term lung damage especially in people with Asthma.

School districts are now warning students about the potential dangers of this cinnamon challenge.
Zaid says, “There have been several cases reported where kids needed ventilator support because they weren’t able to maintain their airway.”

For now, whatever the risks, the videos keep coming. A craze that will likely continue until the new perhaps dangerous one takes over.