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Watch: A Healthy 4-Yr-Old Boy Just Died After Eating This Common Household Spice
What started as an “adventure” in his mom’s kitchen quickly turned to tragedy when 4-year-old Matthew Radar found the cinnamon and ate some.
His mother, Brianna Radar, said: “He started choking. It was like he was having a seizure and just collapsed.” She claimed that her son was healthy and had no other health problems.
When Matthew started choking on the cinnamon, some of it traveled down his airway and made its way to his lungs. This was the ultimate cause of his death. According to the coroner, Matthew’s death was ruled accidental and was caused by cinnamon asphyxiation.
This incident involving the inhalation of cinnamon brings back to mind the ongoing “cinnamon challenge.” This dare is decades old but gained momentum last year, only to slow this year.
In 2012, U.S. Poison Control hotlines received an estimated 222 calls that were related to the misuse or abuse of cinnamon.
The challenge starts with an individual–usually a teen–being dared to ingest a spoonful of ground or powdered cinnamon without drinking any water. As a result, the participant can gag, cough, vomit, choke, and/or become short of breath–all of which can lead to lung damage.
The reason for such an extreme reaction to a common household herb lies in what happens to the body when it is ingested. Cinnamon coats the mouth, and dries out a person’s mouth and throat. This causes the irritation and need to cough.
What happens next, though, is where most of the damage occurs. When the body feels the need to cough, which is a reaction that is almost involuntary, the body tries to breathe, and inhales. Inhaling the cinnamon into the lungs is where the majority of bodily damage, and even potential death, can take place.
The “cinnamon challenge” is a dangerous dare that poison centers across the U.S. have warned against, and pediatricians have had concerns with. Pediatricians are telling parents the dangers of this dare in a study on the phenomenon, titled Ingesting and Aspirating Dry Cinnamon by Children and Adolescents: The “Cinnamon Challenge”
According to the study, “Although we cannot make a strong statement on documented pulmonary sequelae in humans, it is prudent to warn that the Cinnamon Challenge has a high likelihood to be damaging to the lungs. These discussions can also help learn to weigh the risks and rewards of yielding to peer pressure when considering senseless and risky behaviors.”
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/watch-a-healthy-4-yr-old-boy-just-died-after-eating-this-common-household-spice/
