This is the latest trending challenge on TikTok. For the past few weeks, the #OneChipChallenge has gone viral on the platform popular with young people. This challenge, which consists of eating a very spicy crisp and not eating or drinking to have a blue tongue, worries parents and health professionals today.
It’s the brand Paqui which is at the origin of this challenge launched in 2016 to promote the launch of its new very spicy crisps. The objective, for the participants, is to ingest the Carolina Reaper, a crisp with a very hot pepper. “Eat the chips. Wait as long as possible before drinking or eating anything (…) Post your reaction on social networks with #onechipchallenge and mention @paquichips”, thus indicates the brand on its site.
Several teenagers hospitalized
Although the challenge is several years old, it recently went viral again on TikTok. A video is at the origin of this craze, that of angela_b157, published on September 11 and viewed nearly 15 million times. We see a teenager, who tried to take up the challenge, being treated at the hospital. In another video, the young girl explains that she felt intense stomach pains.
Other Internet users also wanted to take up the challenge. In Texas, a 15-year-old student even fainted after suffering from seizures. Many incidents have also been reported in the United States. The consumption of these chips, preserved in the mouth, is indeed not without danger to health. In question in particular capsaicin, the active component of the peppers present in the chips.
“These chips not only cause a burning sensation in the mouth when ingested, but they can also do so in the throat, esophagus, stomach and lower gastrointestinal tract (…) Capsaicin can also cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain,” pediatrician Brett Christiansen told Today.
Due to the number of incidents, the Paqui brand added a warning to its page: “Do not consume if you are sensitive to spicy foods, if you are allergic to peppers, nightshades or capsaicin, if you are pregnant or if you have health problems (…) Seek medical assistance if you have difficulty breathing, if you faint or if you have prolonged nausea. »