Why is swallowing cinnamon dangerous

A dare which involves swallowing a spoonful of cinnamon can cause serious long-term health problems, doctors warn. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player. Doctors in America have warned that a cinnamon-eating craze popular with teenagers is potentially harmful. The "Cinnamon Challenge" involves trying to swallow one teaspoon of cinnamon without water, often while being filmed.

But a report published in the May issue of the Pediatrics journal said 30 American youngsters had required medical treatment after ingesting the spice last year. Cinnamon, which is made from tree bark, is a caustic substance that can cause scarring in the lungs, the report said.

Olympic gold medallist Suni Lee says she was pepper-sprayed in racist attack while waiting for Uber. We have no human research trials to attest to the danger of eating cinnamon; the scare is based on an increasing number of calls to poison control centers. Meanwhile g oing into full-on terror mode about the cinnamon challenge is itself a hazard. All of the aforementioned articles mention that the cinnamon challenge causes things like coughing, vomiting, "and even collapsed lungs.

Beyond that case report, Grant-Alfieri et al. 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?

Cinnamon is made from tree bark and contains cellulose fibers that don't easily break down. Animal research suggests that when cinnamon gets into the lungs, it can cause scarring, Lipshultz said. Stephen Pont, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and an Austin, Texas pediatrician, said the report is "a call to arms to parents and doctors to be aware of things like the cinnamon challenge" and to pay attention to what their kids are viewing online.

An Ypsilanti, Mich. Dejah Reed, 16, said she took the challenge four times -- the final time was in February last year with a friend who didn't want to try it alone. Her father, Fred Reed, said he arrived home soon after to find Dejah "a pale bluish color. It was very terrifying. I threw her over my shoulder" and drove to a nearby emergency room.