It's Cinnamon Challenge Time

The other morning my husband and I were watching the news and the news anchor asked "Do you dare take the Cinnamon Challenge? We'll have more on this coming up." After hearing her say this it intrigued me because I had never heard of anything called the Cinnamon Challenge. When the commercials ended the premise was explained. You take 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and try to swallow it without any water and you only have 60 seconds to do so (sounds really smart right?!). I sat there in disbelief as the news anchor went on to say how dangerous this task is and the health problems it can cause you.

I got up from the living room and walked into my office. I went onto YouTube and punched in Cinnamon Challenge just to see what would come up. Over 40,000 videos came up. I clicked on the first video and watched a girl probably no older that 15, sit in front of the camera and say she was only doing this because of how many "likes" she received on Facebook (are you freaking kidding me?). I continued watching as she took the tablespoon of cinnamon and put it into her mouth. She didn't last more than 10 seconds.

Suddenly an explosion of powder came out of her mouth and she began coughing and reaching for a glass of water that was strategically placed in front of her. After watching that I decided to look up the health effects that the Cinnamon Challenge can cause to a person. Here are the dangers in no particular order:

1. Choking
2. Breathing Trouble
3. Throat Irritation
4. Collapsed Lungs
5. Respitory Failure (requiring a ventilator in some cases)

I thought I would make people aware of this problem, not for others to try it themselves mind you, but just to make people understand that this isn't some harmless kind of game; you can really hurt yourself by doing this. And no I did not attempt to try this challenge in case any of you were wondering. I may be a bit odd at times but I'm not stupid.