Pediatricians: Just say no to cinnamon challenge

[summer]

news.yahoo.com/just-no-cinnamon-challenge-pediatricians-044201589.html

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pediatricians today cautioned young people against participating in a popular dare known as the cinnamon challenge, which involves trying to swallow a tablespoon of ground cinnamon in a minute without drinking water.

Health risks tied to the game - such as breathing problems, lung inflammation and asthma attacks - are relatively rare, they said, but are "unnecessary and avoidable."
"What we were discovering was that it wasn't just that this was a dare prompted by peer pressure, but in fact there were acute health issues associated with it and there might be some real concerns for more chronic health issues," said Dr. Steven Lipshultz, a co-author on the study from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

When a person tries to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon without water, it almost always results in choking, Lipshultz told Reuters Health. Then, if the user takes another breath in, cinnamon powder can coat the airways and get stuck in the lungs.

Cinnamon powder is mostly cellulose, which doesn't degrade in the lungs and has been shown to cause permanent tissue changes that can reduce lung function, according to the authors.
They also called the powder caustic and said it "triggers a severe gag reflex" in response to a burning sensation in the mouth and throat.

Attempts at the cinnamon challenge have increased dramatically in recent years, researchers said, in part as a result of popular Internet videos.

U.S. poison control centers received 222 calls relating to abuse or misuse of cinnamon by teens in 2012, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. During the first half of that year, about 30 people required medical attention due to cinnamon inhalation, the study team wrote in Pediatrics.

Symptoms included coughing, nosebleeds, burning in the throat and vomiting.

Lipshultz said those numbers may just be "the tip of the iceberg," as poison control centers aren't always called when someone is taken to the emergency room after attempting the dare.
His group said parents and doctors should talk to kids about those potential harms so that they can know the risks of the cinnamon challenge in the face of peer pressure to participate.

"We all were teenagers and college students at one point and did things we later regretted - most of the time there's not lingering consequences. The concern here is that may not be the case," Lipshultz said.

Cindy Deutsch, public education coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver, said her own research has suggested that calls to poison control centers and Internet activity related to the cinnamon challenge peaked in early 2012 and have since declined.

"This year… locally here, we've only had one call regarding the cinnamon challenge," she told Reuters Health.

Still, she agreed with the authors that it's something parents and school nurses, in particular, should be aware of and talking to youth about.

"It's definitely not worth the risks, because it can cause very serious health consequences, and there's really no good reason to do this," Deutsch, who was not involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.

"With people who have asthma is where it can be worse," added Dr. Alvin Bronstein, the center's medical director.

"These are mostly young people," he told Reuters Health. "They've got youth on their side, but we wouldn't recommend it."

Cinnamon may be deceiving because it's so commonly used as a cereal topper or gum flavor, Lipshultz said.

But, he added, "Just because it's on your spice rack, if you take half a bottle of cinnamon at once in your mouth, it may not be so benign."

[ringstrue]

WTF?? Get a hobby, people!

[2curlydogs]

This is a thing?

[ttt]

Good god teenagers are stupid.

[annieblah]

I blame tosh for this foolishness

[NitaX]

Apr 22, 2013 8:45:47 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

This is a thing?

Have you not seen this gif?

[meshaliuknits]

Apr 22, 2013 9:27:41 GMT -5 annieblah said:

I blame tosh for this foolishness

Maybe for popularizing it? But the cinnamon challenge was a thing before he dared everyone to do it.

[Velar Fricative]

Hmm. You learn something new every day.

[bugandbibs]

Not just highschoolers. One of J's friends brought cinnamon to school and was daring people at lunch. Thankfully, J and I had already talked about so she knew it was dangerous and didn't try it. The school staff shut it down pretty quickly- it would have been much worse if it had of happened on the playground.

[Dumbledork]

DH and his buddies did it. They were 21 and drunk. I took a video of it to show him the next time they wanted to do something stupid, but I don't know what happened to it. It was dumb. They all threw up.

[2curlydogs]

Apr 22, 2013 10:02:17 GMT -5 NitaX said:

Apr 22, 2013 8:45:47 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

This is a thing?

Have you not seen this gif?

No.

[meshaliuknits]

Apr 22, 2013 10:47:31 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

Apr 22, 2013 10:02:17 GMT -5 NitaX said:

Have you not seen this gif?

No.

LOL   That one didn't even end with puke!

[annieblah]

Apr 22, 2013 10:10:00 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Apr 22, 2013 9:27:41 GMT -5 annieblah said:

I blame tosh for this foolishness

Maybe for popularizing it? But the cinnamon challenge was a thing before he dared everyone to do it.

nuh ugh, he invented it!

[ttt]

Why do people have to take something as awesome and delicious as cinnamon and turn it into stupid shit like this?

[summer]

And it's one MORE conversation to have with your child. "Now if someone gives you.....". *sigh*

[PinkSquirrel]

Ok, so back in college (ie when we were young and dumb) we read that if you ate enough nutmeg it would make you trip. So, we all pooled our resources and bribed a friend to try it. It was quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever witnessed. There is video of it somewhere. I really hope nutmeg does less damage because now I feel bad about it, but damn it was funny

[bugandbibs]

Apr 23, 2013 4:45:28 GMT -5 summer said:

And it's one MORE conversation to have with your child. "Now if someone gives you.....". *sigh*

I went home and had this conversation again with my 10 y/o even though we have already talked about. Basically, I told her not to do stupid shit because her friends are/dare her too.