MINNEAPOLIS - There's a new "dare" making the rounds among middle-school kids that involves trying to swallow a mouthful of cinnamon.
It's called the cinnamon challenge and there are plenty of videos on YouTube showing kids putting a teaspoon of straight cinnamon in their mouths which causes them to cough.
Medical director of the Hennepin Regional Poison Center Dr. Jon Cole says it's not a good idea.
"There's no systemic danger of cinnamon to humans. However inhaling particulate matter into your lungs is not a particularly good thing to do. Any respiratory irritant, and cinnamon is a powder and powders that are inhaled into the respiratory tract certainly are irritants, can set off things like asthma or COPD and can definitely cause some irritation, coughing, wheezing that kind of thing."
The poison center has had four calls from concerned parents so far this year. But Dr. Cole says none of those children were hurt.
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