Cinnamon Twisted
Apparently, one of the latest fads on the internet is to try to swallow a tablespoonful dried cinnamon. It is known as The Cinnamon Challenge. There are video clips galore showing the shocking and painful, and usually futile endeavour.
Sometimes it is very funny, in a macabre sort of way.
I’ve loaded one up for your viewing pleasure, you sadisists.
I was also recently perusing a few websites and blogsites, and ran across numerous entries where poor, unsuspecting people of all ages have noted that they have been the victims of cinnamon gum.
“Why is my tongue all swollen after eating Big Red?… Why do I get mouth blisters after Dentyne classic or Dentyne Fire?… Hey! You too? I thought it was just me!!”
Literally pages of these types of entries. And yet, the “authorities” on the subject, ie. doctors in the medical profession, say that a cinnamon allergy is extremely rare.
Upon first glance, this statement seems at odds with the number of complaints about numbed and/or blistered tongues that are plaguing the cinnamon-gum eating community.
On film sets, where I work, gum is free, and so it goes without saying that it is consumed in large quantities. There are at least one hundred people on a typical film set, often closer to two hundred. I hand out the gum, so it is not very difficult to note who has been eating the cinnamon gum. Every single person that eats cinnamon gum on our sets, over the past ten years that I have been doing this job, reacts in a bad way to said gum.
Swollen tongues, sore tongues, mouth sores, numb tongues, can’t feel their throat; all typical reactions to any brand of cinnamon gum on the market. But every one of these people can still eat a little bit of cinnamon sprinkled on their cereal, toast or in their favourite latte concoction.
You would think that after such severe responses to a cinnamon product, no-one would dare risk anaphylactic shock from going within twenty feet of any type of cinnamon product. But you are not a film person. This is film, and since film sets seem to be above the laws of the land when it comes to the Ministry of Labour, the MInistry of Transportation, and obeying the parameters of their locations permits, then why would they not think that they should be exempt from the laws of nature too?
Upon second glance, the doctors and other medical powers that be, are not really wrong. Most of us are probably not allergic to cinnamon at all. Swollen tongues and cheeks from Big Red or Dentyne Fire etc. and no reaction to miniscule amounts of cinnamon, point to a different kind of reaction.
After all, do we say, in anything other than a jesting tone, that we are allergic to fire?
I think not.
If a chemical does what it is purported to do, which is burn people, or numb their face off, and we are dumb enough to eat it and tell others to “eat it, it’s safe”, then we do not usually call that an allergy.
We call it marketing.
We are, for the most part, not allergic to cinnamon, or the chemical constituents therein.
We are actually numbed and/or burned by them if the concentration of the chemicals inherent to the composition of cinnamon is high.
A little tiny sprinkle of the aromatic spice on cereal, toast or in a latte is not usually enough to cause an adverse effect. But a tablespoonful most certainly is. And if you are a baby, you ladies at moms.com, even half a teaspoonful on your porridge most certainly is. A half a teaspoonful of cinnamon on a child’s cereal is way too much in the first place. It is the equivalent of the Infant Cinnamon Challenge.
We use just less than a teaspoonful in a giant pot for the entire crew on a film set for 100 people.
Cinnamon is actually a word that refers to a number of closely related spices, which are often used interchangeably and referred to by the same moniker. For our purposes, the difference that is important is the amount of a chemical called eugenol that is present in varying amounts, depending upon the type of cinnamon one is talking about.
As a consumer, you will never know which cinnamon was used, so it is rather a moot point for most of us.
Eugenol is an anesthetic, among its other properties. So if you tongue goes numb, or your throat, it is no surprise. The other main ingredient in any cinnamon is cinnamic aldehyde. It burns skin. So again; why are we so surprised that eating a concentrated cinnamon product like cinnamon gum named Fire, or Big Red, or mowing down handfuls of cinnamon hearts is going to eventually result in anything other than pain or, if we are lucky, numbness.?
Critical mass people.
Eat enough, and you have burned yourself or anesthetised the heck out of your mouth or throat.
Or both.
Cinnamon is extremely beneficial to many people, eaten in small amounts. Not concentrated.
We’ll discuss the pros and cons of reasonable cinnamon intake in a later blog.
Right now, we’re worried about your mouth.
But if you’re not and you want to live on the edge, on a tight budget, then buy yourself some cinnamon gum and go nuts.
If you want even more demented fun, please by all means, watch this video before you attempt to eat a tablespoon of cinnamon — of any kind.
Enjoy the video, but please just live vicariously and don’t attempt such silliness yourselves.
Cinnamon challenge – Watch more Funny Videos
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