From the cinnamon challenge to the dragon’s breath, here’s what you need to know about the most risky social media trends

Social media challenges can be weird, fun, or just plain risky – it seems there are no limits to what some people will do for likes.

Take the “gallon challenge,” for example. Social media influencers encouraged their followers to drink a gallon (3.78 litres in the UK) of milk in 60 minutes without vomiting. That may not sound too scary – until you consider that the average human stomach holds about 1.5 lStudies have shown that drinking 250 ml of milk a little over an hour leave the stomach.

So the gallon challenge is likely to lead to one of two outcomes. Either the person taking the challenge will be plagued with nausea, pain, bloating, and diarrhea as the body tries to aid the stomach cope with the overflow. Or the person will vomit as the body tries to get rid of the stomach contents and reduce the risk of damage. Overflowing the stomach can lead to gastrorexia, where the stomach wall is stretched so much that it tears—and that is [usually fatal].

Other food challenges include the “cinnamon challenge,” in which social media users tried to swallow a tablespoon of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds. This is a very bad idea.

For starters, cinnamon is a opulent source coumarina relationship that can be toxic to the liver so it is not recommended to consume such huge amounts of ground cinnamon.

Also, eating cinnamon or any other powder form herbs or spices can damage the lining of the esophagus or trachea, or even lungs.

The body keeps the surfaces of these areas damp. to protect themOnce swallowed, the powder immediately sticks to these surfaces, drying them out and causing cracks. protective liningwhich can lead to solemn infections.

In 2018, as you may remember, “TidePod Challenge” went viral. To that end, some social media users ate laundry capsules to get likes. Laundry capsule ingestion is already a major problem in the US and UK. In delayed 2022, research showed that at least one child every hour is injured by contact with laundry capsules. Why people One can only guess who would take such great risks to their health for the entertainment of others.

Symptoms of swallowing a laundry capsule include vomiting, nausea, drowsiness and rashesSince the detergent is corrosive, swallowing the laundry capsules may cause burning of the esophagus and stomach liningand bring about changes in breathing and mental stateIn some cases, people who have swallowed laundry detergent capsules need to external breathing support.

Eye injuries are a common side effect swallowing laundry detergent capsules. Many of the chemicals in laundry detergents are designed to remove body fluids from our clothes, so if any part of our body – from our eyes to our throats to our stomachs – comes into contact with the detergent, it will start trying to destroy them.

Dragon’s breath is as awful as it sounds

If those challenges don’t sound weird enough for you, how about “dragon’s breath”? In this challenge, social media users eat candy covered in liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of around 196°C, meaning it would evaporate under normal conditions, but touching it with any part of the body could cause full thickness burns.

When ingested, liquid nitrogen at low temperatures causes surface burns. esophagus AND stomach. If liquid nitrogen comes into contact with warmer temperatures inside the body, more gas is produced, which can lead to rapid expansion, rupture esophagus or stomach wide open.

And the danger isn’t restricted to social media users trying to challenge their viewership. Some bars and restaurants are serving cocktails and desserts with liquid nitrogen. The vapor produced by the chemical may look spectacular, but it should never be consumed. In 2012, Gaby Scanlon She was given a cocktail called “Nitro-Jagermeister” to celebrate her 18th birthday. The drink caused a huge perforation of her stomach. Her stomach had to be removed and her esophagus connected directly to her compact intestine.

As part of the “Benadryl challenge,” some social media users filmed themselves taking excessive amounts of the antihistamine. Benadryl contains the busy ingredient diphenhydraminewhich acts as a sedative – and is also found in many over-the-counter sleeping pills.

Excessive consumption of the drug may cause heart problems, seizures, and even comasTreatment is complex because many therapies can cause Competing SymptomsAn overdose of diphenhydramine can be fatal.

What could possibly go wrong?

Finally, in a “corn cob challenge,” some social media users mounted a corn on a power drill and attempted to eat it as quickly as possible from the rotating tool. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, for starters, the painful loss of a tooth. A rapidly rotating piece of food that creates a lot of force on your teeth can rip them out of their bony sockets, rupturing the periodontal ligament that anchors them. Tooth extraction – when a tooth is completely knocked out of its socket – is quite common in children. Studies have shown that placing tooth in milk increases the likelihood of rejoining the nest.

The moral of the story is that if you value the lining of your esophagus, trachea, lungs, and stomach, you should avoid any outlandish or risky-sounding social media challenges. Too often, what was meant to be fun and entertaining for viewers ended up being a terrible tragedy.