--- title: ‘Cinnamon Challenge’ Could Trigger Lasting Lung Damage description: Swallowing a tablespoon of the dry spice on a dare could lead to serious health problems, according to the latest report on the practice. 7136265 canonical: https://time.com/archive/7136265/cinnamon-challenge-continues-to-prove-hazardous-to-teens-health/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-04-22T18:00:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T10:02:09.582Z article:section: Health og:title: ‘Cinnamon Challenge’ Could Trigger Lasting Lung Damage og:description: Swallowing a tablespoon of the dry spice on a dare could lead to serious health problems, according to the latest report on the practice. 7136265 og:url: https://time.com/archive/7136265/cinnamon-challenge-continues-to-prove-hazardous-to-teens-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb656407a8ca8f3c/698a92c447ca38294c3c393e/119707301.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5149 og:image:height: 2896 og:image:alt: 119707301 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘Cinnamon Challenge’ Could Trigger Lasting Lung Damage twitter:description: Swallowing a tablespoon of the dry spice on a dare could lead to serious health problems, according to the latest report on the practice. 7136265 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb656407a8ca8f3c/698a92c447ca38294c3c393e/119707301.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # ‘Cinnamon Challenge’ Could Trigger Lasting Lung Damage > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=de57a16d-928e-4306-afb5-03473d3c9ae7&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 22, 2013 6:00 PM UTC  Studio shot of cinnamon stick and cinnamon powder Studio shot of cinnamon stick and cinnamon powder Getty Images/Tetra images RF by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 22, 2013 6:00 PM UTC Swallowing a tablespoon of the dry spice on a dare could lead to serious health problems, according to the latest report on the practice. more The so-called cinnamon challenge went viral in 2012 as over 50,000 video clips of people attempting to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon in under 60 seconds popped up on YouTube — along with the inevitable gagging, coughing and misery of the unsuccessful dares. Excessive amounts of cinnamon, as the teens in the videos now know, can cause burning and inflammation of sensitive tissues in the mouth, nose and throat, and led to a [spike](http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/30/cinnamon-challenge-popular-with-teens-proves-risky/) in calls to poison-control centers. The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) reported that in the first three months of 2012, these centers received 139 calls for cinnamon abuse, 122 of which were related to the cinnamon challenge. Thirty of those people required immediate medical attention. (**MORE:** [Cinnamon Challenge, Popular With Teens, Proves Risky](http://healthland.time.com/2012/03/30/cinnamon-challenge-popular-with-teens-proves-risky/)) Now a new study published in the journal _Pediatrics_ details more health harms related to the dare. The latest data, the authors of the study say, showed that 222 calls came in to poison centers in 2012 related to the stunt, compared with 51 calls in 2011\. Some teens were treated for collapsed lungs and required ventilators after attempting the challenge. When swallowed by the tablespoon, powdered cinnamon coats and dries out the mouth, making swallowing difficult. Cinnamon also contains a substance called cellulose that can stick in the lungs and compromise their ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. The study authors acknowledge that while these effects are usually temporary, people who have asthma or more delicate lungs could be at greater risk of more serious breathing problems if they try the stunt. “The cellulose doesn’t break down,” Dr. Steven Lipshultz, one of the authors of the study from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine [said](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/consequences-of-the-cinnamon-challenge/) to the New York _Times_. “So when it gets into the lungs it sits there long term, and if it’s coated with this caustic cinnamon [oil](http://topics.time.com/oil/), that leads to chronic inflammation and eventually scarring of the lungs, something we call pulmonary fibrosis. Getting scarring in the lungs is equivalent to getting emphysema.” (**MORE:** [The Choking Game: 1 in 7 College Students Has Tried It, Texas Study Finds](http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/20/the-choking-game-1-in-7-college-students-has-tried-it-texas-study-finds/)) In TIME’s coverage of the spike in poison-center calls related to the cinnamon challenge, officials of the AAPCC warned of the some of the more serious hazards of the stunt: --- > “” --- The report should raise the alarm for pediatricians who need to be aware of the potential dangers of the dare, Dr. Stephen Pont, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics [told](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/mds-warn-teens-cinnamon-challenge-19012867#.UXVdprZOSPU) ABC News. He said the study is “a call to arms to parents and doctors to be aware of things like the cinnamon challenge” and urged parents and doctors to talk to their kids about the risks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7136265/cinnamon-challenge-continues-to-prove-hazardous-to-teens-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7136265/cinnamon-challenge-continues-to-prove-hazardous-to-teens-health/"},"headline":"‘Cinnamon Challenge’ Could Trigger Lasting Lung Damage","datePublished":"2013-04-22T18:00:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T10:02:09.582Z","description":"Swallowing a tablespoon of the dry spice on a dare could lead to serious health problems, according to the latest report on the practice. 7136265","url":"https://time.com/archive/7136265/cinnamon-challenge-continues-to-prove-hazardous-to-teens-health/","keywords":["Asthma"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb656407a8ca8f3c/698a92c447ca38294c3c393e/119707301.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb656407a8ca8f3c/698a92c447ca38294c3c393e/119707301.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"119707301","caption":"119707301","creditText":"Getty Images/Tetra images RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7136265/cinnamon-challenge-continues-to-prove-hazardous-to-teens-health/","name":"‘Cinnamon Challenge’ Could Trigger Lasting Lung Damage"}}]}] ```