Why is cinnamon challenge bad

Last year, the American Association of Poison Control Centers issued a warning about the cinnamon challenge. In the first three months of , poison control centers received calls about cinnamon. Of those cases, were classified as intentional misuse or abuse. At least 30 people who took the cinnamon challenge required medical attention, including ventilator support for collapsed lungs.

Report author Steven Lipshultz said teens with asthma are particularly at risk from ingesting large amounts of dry cinnamon. Sign up now for a weekly digest of the top drug and alcohol news that impacts your work, life and community. By Partnership Staff. Get the latest news from our field. They look in-depth at 26 calls in Miami alone during a month period: "Most patients had only minor consequences that resolved after dilution, irrigation, and washing the affected area They also describe a study in rats, where researchers injected cinnamon right into their windpipes.

Some rats developed fibrotic lung diseases months later. Cinnamon particles do not get absorbed by our lungs, and it's reasonable to assume the same chronic diseases could develop over time in people -- if we injected cinnamon into our windpipes. Which is not what the cinnamon challenge is. A normal person should cough and clear out all but an incidental amount of cinnamon. I love that medical journals are addressing what's happening on the Internet. They even made puns.

Should people know that getting too much cinnamon too near their lungs is potentially unhealthy? Is it possible that in 40 years we see a rash of chronic lung disease that we trace back to massive cinnamon exposures?

In my opinion, not likely. Can particles get into your lungs and cause a fatal asthma attack? Also possible, but the worst thing definitively reported in the roughly five years that this has been an Internet trend is someone coughing so hard that their lung collapsed.

That sometimes happens when people cough hard. The journal article concludes: "Although we cannot make a strong statement on documented pulmonary sequelae in humans, it is prudent to warn that the Cinnamon Challenge has a high likelihood to be damaging to the lungs.

We of course appreciate caution, but a case for a "high likelihood" they have not made. Every parent should not rush their child to the emergency room or lose sleep looking back at having let a kid try to eat a spoonful of cinnamon. It doesn't mean they are doomed to future lung disease or won't get into a good college. It does mean they bow to peer pressure or imitate things they see on YouTube, though, which warrants a talking-to.

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