Local Hospital Officials Warn Parents about the 'Cinnamon Challenge'

A spoonful of sugar it is not.

Recently, the Bridgewater-Raynham and Plymouth school districts warned parents of the potential dangers of a YouTube video called the cinnamon challenge.

In this challenge, people try to swallow a spoonful of the spice without drinking water, in the videos, this always results in choking and coughing by the participant as the cinnamon apparently burns their mouths and noses.

Casey Roderick, the Chief of Respiratory Therapy Casey at the in Plymouth said after watching the challenge on YouTube, that it can cause severe respiratory problems.

"What I withnessed is that they are constantly trying to swallow and it’s difficult to do so," Roderick said. "When you swallow there’s a piece of tissue called the epiglottis that flops between the trachea and esophagus, when you swallow this flops over the trachea. From a respiratory standpoint if your constantly swallowing you can’t take a breath, and when you finally do take a breath, that cinnamon will go down the trachea, and that can cause aspiration."

Aspiration is caused when a foreign body, whether food, cinnamon, or something else, can cause infection when the body responds to attack it. Roderick said the infection can become aspiration pnemonia if left too long.

"Even in young people, it can be a serious problem," Roderick said.

"Added to that, cinnamon burns tissue, and that makes it even worse will burn the lung tissue. So, from a respiratory standpoint, it's really dangerous."

Roderick said there is an added danger to asthmatics.

"Any insult ot the lungs might trigger an asthma attack," he said.