Thread: Ever Heard of This ? "Cinnamon Challenge"

'Cinnamon Challenge' Sparks Health Concerns
By Katie Kindelan | ABC News Blogs – Fri, Mar 9, 2012 10:37 AM EST

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, Mary Poppins famously sang, but a spoonful of cinnamon can cause dangerous side effects.

That is the warning from concerned parents, school administrators and medical experts alike in response to the "Cinnamon Challenge," a game challenging people to swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon without water in 60 seconds.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28561424

The game has gone viral, spurred on by teens uploading thousands of videos on YouTube and Facebook showing them gagging, choking and spitting while trying to complete the challenge.

Doctors say the challenge is impossible because the cinnamon cannot be digested without water and warn that by inhaling the cinnamon dust teens run the risk of inflaming or scarring their lungs. "If you have some fine particles, like cinnamon in your lungs, it may be hard to clear out," said Dr. Robert Zaid of Providence Hospital in Mobile, Ala. "Your lungs can kind of collapse on you. There have been several cases reported where kids needed ventilator support because they weren't able to maintain their airway."

In Michigan school administrators are sending advisories to parents alerting them to the dangers the challenge could pose to their children after four apparently related cases were reported to the Children's Hospital of Michigan Regional Poison Control Center in the last month alone, according to the Detroit News.

Dejah Reed, a freshman at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., spent four days in the hospital with an infection and a collapsed right lung after she ingested cinnamon two week ago. "She was going in and out of consciousness. She couldn't breathe. She was turning pale," her father, Fred Reed, told local affiliate WXYZ. "I hope parents and kids learn that it's not fun and games. She could have died."

Even a site devoted to the challenge, Cinnamonchallenge.com, has this disclaimer prominently displayed on its homepage, "DO NOT ATTEMPT THE CINNAMON CHALLENGE WITHOUT TALKING WITH A DOCTOR. OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE GOING TO TELL YOU NOT TO DO IT. THE CINNAMON CHALLENGE CAN BE DANGEROUS AND SHOULDN'T BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. YOU NEVER WANT TO PURPOSELY OR MISTAKINGLY INHALE ANY SUBSTANCES SUCH AS CINNAMON. IT'S GOING TO BURN, YOU ARE GOING TO COUGH, AND REGRET YOU TRIED…SO WATCH MOVIES OF PEOPLE ALREADY FEELING THE PAIN."

Despite the serious health risks the game has been popularized by athletes and even a politician.

In November, during the NBA lockout, basketball stars Nick Young and JaVale McGee attempted the cinnamon challenge in a YouTube video that has been viewed more than 100,000 times and posted on ESPN.com. In February Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn took the challenge while appearing on a talk radio show, though he drank water to get it down.

Medical experts like Dr. Zaid are echoing school administrators in advising parents to warn their children that attempting viral, online dares like the "Cinnamon Challenge" could land them in the hospital, according to WXYZ.


comments

Next thing you know you'll have to be over 18 to buy cinnamon. ID please sir or ma'am.

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Cinnamon is ground up tree bark, why would you think it would do anything but float on water? Of course it's not going to dissolve.

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Paul Atreides did this, but did have to drink the "Water of life" after enduring the "Spice agony" He who controls the spice, controls the universe! The spice must flow! The spice is vital to space travel they can bend space and time. OK I'm geeked out for now

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So good I had to pass it along... credit to [Reader]

I'm amazed we're still allowed to use anything sharper than a butter knife without supervision, a license and a mandatory 3-day waiting period.

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mix cinnamon with sugar.. put it on buttered bread.. put it in the oven under a broiler... eat the yummy cinnamon toast.. don't be a dork and a trendoid and eat cinnamon by itself

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Natural selection at work. This is how the dumb ones weed themselves out. Cinnamon is not as begnin as these little pranksters believe-it has a mild blood thinning effect which if could pose problems if one of the blessed little folk happens to have a congenital coagulation issue like hemophilia

Michigan teen hospitalized after attempting ‘cinnamon challenge’
Published March 07, 2012 FoxNews.com

A Michigan student was hospitalized this week after participating in the ‘cinnamon challenge,’ and one high school principal is warning parents of the game’s dangers, AnnArbor.com reported.

With the ‘cinnamon challenge,’ made popular by YouTube videos, students try to swallow 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in less than 1 minute. Reportedly, the body’s salivary glands cannot make enough saliva to swallow that amount of cinnamon without the help of a liquid.

Arthur Williams, principal at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., sent an e-mail to parents Tuesday, warning them of the game’s hazards and alerting them to the fact that a local student had been hospitalized because of it.

According to AnnArbor.com, the email said the game can cause students to suffer hypoxia, choking, vomiting and coughing. The game can reportedly cause pneumonia if the cinnamon is aspirated into the lungs.

A Facebook page dedicated to the challenge states the participants will experience ‘dragon breath’ (exhaling a cloud of cinnamon) immediately after inhaling the spice.

The Facebook page links to CinnamonChallenge.com, which features videos of people trying to do it.

“It’s definitely worth betting your friends to attempt it,” according to CinnamonChallenge.com.

Local Ann Arbor hospitals told AnnArbor.com they have not seen teens coming into the emergency room due to this game’s hazards, and a public information officer with the Washtenaw County Health Department said the department has not heard of anyone being hurt by the challenge – but this is not the type of thing someone would be required to report, either.

“Warn them that this is not a harmless activity, and that there can be severe medical consequences associated with it,” Williams begged parents in his email, according to AnnArbor.com


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/0...#ixzz1pBYSLFHw

They have been showing videos of this for well over a year on America's funniest home videos. I never thought it could be dangerous but I guess I can see why it would be. Next thing you know they'll get sued for encouraging it.

Dangerous Games Your Kids Should Avoid
By Miriam Weiner | U.S.News & World Report LP – 2 hrs 6 mins ago

A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but a spoonful of cinnamon? that's an entirely different story.

It sounds like something you'd see on the television show, Iron Chef, only the seemingly innocent "cinnamon challenge" poses an alarming number of risks for kids and teens who take it on. (The goal: to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon without washing it down with water.) Over the past few months, emergency rooms and poison control centers across the country have been flooded with calls from panicked parents and concerned school nurses about this prevalent trend.

Cinnamon isn't the only ingredient that kids are challenging. Milk, marshmallows, and even water can stimulate kids' competitive edge. It's up to parents to know how kids are using (or abusing) what seem like harmless substances. To parents who are concerned about their kids taking part in risky competitions like the cinnamon challenge, try to understand the reasons why these games may seem appealing, advises Jill Weber, a Virginia-based clinical psychologist. "There's always some underlying motivator," she said. "If it's a lack of stimulation or novelty [in your child's life], try and channel that into sports or other, healthier activities."

Know too that experimenting with risk is a normal part of human development. "Risk is a part of life," she says. "In some ways, it's developmentally appropriate. [Kids are] learning to test their boundaries and find their way back to safety." If you suspect that your kid is playing these games, keep your cool. "Parents who panic should pause and understand that kids who do this aren't usually doing it regularly," says Weber. If you do confront your child, "You don't want to be too punitive. You want to be the kind of parent who your teen can talk to about this. Otherwise, they'll rebel." Weber recommends using a news report or article to jumpstart the conversation.

To help you get ahead of the game, U.S. News Health has uncovered some of the most popular ways in which kids are challenging each other and possibly harming themselves.

Cinnamon Challenge

The cinnamon challenge was sparked by the emergence of YouTube videos showing people swallowing large quantities of the common kitchen spice without water. Upon finishing the challenge, contenders are often immediately hit with a severe coughing fit and sometimes vomiting. But these are just side effects of the challenge's more serious consequences, which can include lung collapse, pneumonia, and pulmonary edema (the abnormal build-up of fluid in the lungs).

Gallon Challenge

The MTV series, Jackass, first popularized the gallon challenge, in which individuals are dared to drink an entire gallon of milk--anything less than whole milk is usually considered cheating--in an hour without vomiting. Of course, getting sick is inevitable: The human stomach is unable to process an entire gallon of milk in one sitting. Although participating in the gallon challenge won't necessarily put your child at risk for long-term health problems, you can expect a severe case of vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, and bloating.

Chubby Bunny

This game can go from funny to frightening very quickly. The objective is to see how many full-size marshmallows kids can fit in their mouths before they can no longer say the words "chubby bunny." This game is especially popular on camp-outs, and successful strategies involve utilizing every spare inch of the mouth, including the throat. Chubby bunny has resulted in several choking deaths over the past several decades, including the heated case of 12-year-old Catherine Fish, who suffocated while playing the game at an annual fair hosted by her Chicago elementary school in 1999.

Ice and Salt Challenge

To prove they can withstand pain, many middle school and high school kids are taking on the "ice and salt challenge." This involves wetting an area of skin, covering it with table salt, and applying pressure with an ice cube. Usually, water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but adding salt causes the freezing point to drop to as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit. When kids apply ice to a salt-covered, moist area of skin, they will experience extreme pain. And depending how long competitors resist the urge to remove the ice, they could face blistering, first- or second-degree burns, or even frostbite.

Water Chugging

Parents often worry about whether or not their children are drinking enough water, but very few consider that their children are drinking too much. Chugging exorbitant amounts of H2O may sound harmless, but as 28-year-old Jennifer Strange proved back in 2007, "hyperhydration" can be deadly. Strange was competing in a contest sponsored by a California radio station during which she was challenged to drink as much water as she could while resisting using the bathroom for as long as possible. She died from what doctors call "water poisoning." Drinking too much water dilutes the sodium in the bloodstream, which can cause a fluid imbalance in cells. (Recommended daily water intake for men is three liters, or 13 cups per day; for women, it's 2.2 liters or 9 cups.) Those who participate in water-chugging challenges will likely only experience nausea and headaches, but hyperhydration can also lead to brain swelling, respiratory arrest, coma, and death.

Choking Game

This isn't so much a game as it is a way to sidestep authority. Kids--usually in their teens--cut off their oxygen supply to induce a warm, fuzzy, light-headed sensation similar to feeling high, except that they'll still be able to pass a drug test. The key to this "game" (also known as the fainting game, seven minutes to heaven, tapping out, or sleeper hold) is to relieve the pressure just before losing consciousness. However, by cutting off their air supply with belts, ropes, or their bare hands, kids are putting themselves at risk for brain damage, stroke, and even death. While your kids may pass a drug test with flying colors, there are ways to tell if they're finding that feeling in a different way. According to the Mayo Clinic, clues that your child is playing the choking game include unexplained bruises around the neck, frequent headaches, bloodshot eyes, and disorientation.

Children who regularly play the choking game may not be doing it to please their peers--their behavior may signal something more serious, says Weber. "[These are] children who seem withdrawn, depressed, and who are not doing well in other activities." Weber recommends that parents who suspect their child of playing the choking game consult a psychologist.

http://news.yahoo.com/dangerous-game...160523743.html

'Soy sauce challenge' almost kills 19-year-old

YouTubers have started filming themselves drinking absurd amounts of soy sauce either for money or bragging rights. But for one Virginia man, the soy sauce challenge had a far more dangerous ending.

http://news.msn.com/us/soy-sauce-cha...ocid=ansnews11