A dare popular among teenagers is landing some of them into hospitals. The "Cinnamon Challenge" is an online dare that adolescents and bored teens are indulging in and which can prove to be extremely dangerous, warn doctors.
The challenge involves swallowing a spoonful of cinnamon without any water. Innocuous but dangerous. This can lead to suffocation, asthma attacks, lung infection, nosebleeds and in some cases lung collapse too, according to an article in the journal Pediatrics.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers reveals that there were 222 cases of this challenge abuse in the U.S. in 2012. This year, almost 30 teenagers needed hospitalization because of ingestion of cinnamon.
"We have seen a rise in calls to poison control centers around the United States that mirrored the rise in YouTube videos and their viewing," said Dr. Steven E Lipshultz, from the University of Miami and the co-author of the article, to Reuters Health.
Cinnamon in small quantities is supposed to be beneficial but when ingested spoonful, it is harmful. The cause is cellulose, a kind of starch found in cinnamon, which does not break down and when one chokes or gags it gets lodged in the lung, which over time leads to scarring of the lung or pulmonary fibrosis.
So teens need to think again before giving into curiosity and peer pressure, gagging yourself to trouble is no way gain a bit of fun.
