It’s called the “Cinnamon Challenge,” and it’s a task some teens are daring each other to do. It sounds easy enough – swallow a spoonful of cinnamon without having anything to drink. Soon after ingesting the cinnamon, you start to realize the task isn’t as easy as you may have thought, though, and according to a local doctor, it can even be dangerous.
A local radio personality, Lucas Holt from The Bear FM, recently put the cinnamon challenge to the test for part of the station’s “Will It Hurt” segment. The cinnamon was only in his mouth for a few seconds before he had to spit it out.
“All the saliva in your mouth just disappears and you can’t get it down, your throat kind of closes up, it’s not fun.”
Global News spoke with a doctor Thursday to find out just how safe this test is. Dr. Dan O’Connell says although cinnamon has a nice taste, like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad.
When you put a tablespoon or a teaspoon fine powder in your mouth, your saliva automatically absorbs on the outside, but it basically turns into sludge or mud around a powder centre, which you really can’t stimulate a swallowing sequence after that,” explains O’Connell.
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He says this causes a gag reflex which causes you to choke, and when that happens: “things start flying in unpredictable directions. It’ll go up, it’ll go down, it’ll come out and that’s why, potentially, this is a bit dangerous.”
O’Connell says he hasn’t heard any established cases of people dying from the cinnamon challenge, but it can cause you to choke, cough, and vomit. When that happens, the cinnamon can get into your lungs, which is especially dangerous for people with asthma – or for kids.
“If you do stimulate your airway or irritate your airway in a very young person, you can actually cause problems with your heart rate, problem with your blood pressure,” says O’Connell. “They’re temporary problems, but if these are being done in a kitchen unsupervised, who knows what might happen.”
Holt learned his lesson from the challenge in the end, and is now advising people not to do it.
“There’s no payoff from it, why do it?”
Here’s one of the thousands of videos of people attempting this so called challenge:
With files from Su-Ling Goh
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