The 'Cinnamon Challenge:' Should Parents Worry?
Adults and some kids are challenging each other to ingest spoonfuls of the stuff, but is this a risky activity or just a good laugh?
The cinnamon challenge is simple: eat a spoonful of dry, ground cinnamon without drinking any water or throwing up. The cinnamon challenge is relatively new cousin of the "Saltine challenge," an eating competition that has been around for decades, but at least one Boston-area doctor is worried. In a Boston Globe article on the subject, MGH pulmonologist James Mojica said, “The biggest problem is that the powder dries your mouth and throat, which makes it easier for it to enter your lungs instead of your stomach." He also explained to the Globe that "That, in turn, can inflame the lungs, and lead to breathing difficulties, an acute lung injury, an aspiration pneumonia, or lung scarring," and that "Young patients can generate such high …
