Ahhh…there is nothing like sprinkling some cinnamon on my homemade French toast. Are you a cinnamon fan? If so, you might want to lock it up from your teen.
According to the nation’s poison centers, they received 139 calls between January and March of 2012, concerning potential cinnamon poisoning. Yes, you read that right…cinnamon poisoning.
It sometimes amazes me how an adolescent can turn something so innocent (and delicious) into something so dangerous. Apparently there is a new game being played amongst teens called the “cinnamon challenge.”
This game is being blamed on at least 122 of those calls made to the poison center. The idea is to swallow a spoonful of powdered or ground cinnamon and not drink any water afterwards.
Sounds kind of stupid but it’s actually pretty dangerous.
The problem is that the cinnamon coats the inside of the mouth and throat. At the very least it can cause gagging, coughing and vomiting. It becomes more dangerous when they have trouble with breathing. And if the throat becomes irritated, the teen could develop pneumonia.
Those teens that are in the greatest danger when playing this game are those with asthma. This is due to the risk of serious breathing difficulties.
The nation’s poison control centers reported that of the 139 calls placed in just the first three months of this year, 30 of them required medical intervention of some sort.
You may not have heard of this latest trend, but don’t let your guard down. It is starting to increase in popularity and now teens can even find videos online that help spread the word of this dangerous game.
It seems that more and more we have to be concerned about everyday household products being used in dangerous ways. It used to be you had to lock things up when they were babies and toddlers. Now it’s getting to where you have to lock things up from your teenagers.
Guess I’ll make my French toast plain from now on in…
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