A Brief Introduction to What is Not Food
On September 15th of 2022, the FDA published a press release on social media challenges with drugs involved. Specifically, a TikTok trend where people were supposedly poaching chicken in NyQuil. Yes, that NyQuil: the medication available over the counter for those long nights of being unable to sleep, coughing, and flu symptoms. The FDA discussed risks that come from the concentration of the medication as well as the fumes released from cooking medication. When I first read this, I thought two things:
Wow. Do people really have the disposable income for that? NyQuil is $95.36 per gallon, which is more than gas right now by only about $91.50.
Are people actually doing this? I, along with seemingly most of readers and news outlets, did not know anything about this “trend” until the FDA released their statement.
Well, it turns out it is, in fact, a “food trend” based in the rawest definitions of both “trend” and “food.” And, by the FDA stepping in and drawing attention to the trend, most of the posts that came from the encouraged hashtag #SleepyChicken are now of people mocking the trend rather than people actually doing it. This is keeping people safe by making the challenge fail as well as advocating the fact that all medication, including over-the-counter medications, can be dangerous.
This is not the last not-very-food viral-ish food challenge. Here is a short introduction to some others. All of these challenges and trends, above and below, are dangerous. Please do not try any of these challenges for your own safety and the safety of others.
Cinnamon Challenge (2012-2013)
“It hurt,” described Jesse Akaa, attempter of this challenge. In this YouTube trend, people took spoonfuls of ground cinnamon and had to swallow it before lasting a full minute, 60 seconds, without swallowing anything else, drinking water, or spitting it out. Yes, it was dangerous. In the first few months of 2012, United States Poison Control Centers received over 200 phone calls about cinnamon-misuse related incidents.
So why is it bad? Well…
Cinnamon powder can trigger asthma attacks.
Cinnamon is ground up tree bark and the human body can’t fully digest or metabolize cellulose it.
Cinnamon in Sri Lanka has lead to lung disease for the people who process it similar to lung damage often faced by coal miners.
Cinnamaldehyde, the chemical that gives cinnamon its flavor and odor, is a preservative and, in large enough quantities, can create the similar preservation results as formaldehyde.
“The cinnamon was choking me much more than I normally like so I had to quit the challenge half way through,” Akaa explained somewhat jokingly while realizing how dangerous this challenge was.
Dry Scooping Challenge (2021-2022)
Imagine taking protein powder, specifically pre-workout, and eating it dry. No water. No milk. Not even mashed with a banana. This just sounds painful. This began with claims of effects happening quicker due to not being diluted or having consumption slowed through the consumption of additional water. This is where some of the danger lies.
Many pre-workout powders contain caffeine. A lot of caffeine. The immediate consumption of this much caffeine without the slowed consumption that comes from mixing it with water or another liquid becomes dangerous.
Eating straight powder can cause severe damage or inflammation to the lungs if it gets breathed in, which is likely for something like this.
Many protein powders are recommended for people over the age of 18, but this being a social media trend has caused people under the recommended age to eat these powders, making it even more unsafe.
Muscle building is already dangerous if not done properly, but participating in this challenge increases body damage.
Tide Pod Challenge (2017-2018)
When this was a trend, I remember my friends joking about how delicious Tide Pods looked. I never understood it until I saw this trend encourage the creation of Tide Pod-shaped royal icing cookies, memes of Hot Pockets filled with tide pods, or an image of a toothpaste tube that said it was “Tide Pod Flavored”… but I still don’t fully understand it. (Thank you, Harvard Health Publishing, for explaining why this became a trend).
For the purpose of standard formatting, here is a list of obvious reasons why this challenge is dangerous.
Laundry Detergent is not food.
Laundry Detergent is poisonous.
Laundry pods are concentrated laundry detergent.
Between 2012 and 2017, eight people died as a direct result from consuming laundry pods.
Everyone knew that laundry detergent and food occupy two independent circles in the Venn diagram, but the trend was a part of our society anyways. If you are still questioning what Tide Pods should be used for, ask Rob Gronkowski.
The Salt and Ice Challenge (2016-2019)
Remember how, way back when in science class, we did an experiment where we made ice cream? While some remember the mediocre ice cream as the highlight, my teachers swore the highlight was learning that salt reduces the temperature of ice which is why we add salt to ice when making ice cream. Now, imagine pouring a bit of salt on your skin then holding an ice cube to your skin for as long as you can.
Cold temperatures can burn the skin and nerves, similar to hot temperatures. Some attempters were hospitalized with second degree burns.
Salt reduces the temperature of ice which leads to this challenge being significantly more dangerous than just holding an ice cube to your skin. For context, fresh water freezes at 21°F (0°C) but the ocean, due to its salinity, freezes at 28°F (-2°C). The Dead Sea freezes at -6.0°F (-21.1°C).
“We were in fourth grade at the time and we wanted to…” expresses Sam Schrage, who even to this day recalls the pain that this challenge caused him and his friends.
Tequila Suicide Shots (2013-?)
This one, I am scared to say, is still a thing. This is your traditional shot of tequila (tequila, salt, and lime) but undeniably painful, unattractive, and dangerous. Start by snorting the salt similarly to what you would expect from Jordan Belfort in the late 80’s, squirting the lime juice directly into your eyes, then finishing it off with the shot of tequila. Variations switch the last two steps. This is one I have witnessed and it seems to be less fun than it sounds, and it does not sound fun.
But why is it not fun?
Salt in the lungs is dangerous. It can cause water from other parts of the body to enter the lungs which can lead to difficulty breathing and coughing among other things.
While squirting a citrus juice in the eyes does not often lead to irreversible damage, it causes redness, swelling, and irritation. It can, in some cases, hurt the eyes in ways such as cloudy damaged corneas and loss of vision.
This will, hopefully, soon become a trend of the past.
Chubby Bunny (1959-?)
This is the one of these trends I participated in. I remember being on the beach with my cub scouts troop, surrounded by friends and guardians, and being explained this game. One marshmallow would be inserted into the players mouth and the player would need to say “Chubby Bunny.” This would then continue with a marshmallow being inserted to fill up the players cheeks (like a chubby bunny) and the line being said until the phrase was no longer intelligible. Nowadays, this is considered as much a group activity as it is hazing.
Considering my parents played it as kids and so did I, why is this dangerous? Well…
This game can cause suffocation. It not only requires stuffing the mouth but also opening the airways to the mouth in order to say the line. This is more than just the stuffing, but the marshmallow get melted by the body heat and saliva of players then the sticky drippings entering the throat can additionally lead to suffocation.
Players can choke on the marshmallows as they are expected to remain in the mouth for an extended period of time.
I personally did not enjoy this game. I also was not very good at it. Put simply by another ex-player, Tucker Ellis, “Feeling like you can’t breathe isn’t very fun.”