Why is #FrozenHoneyChallenge dangerous? Viral TikTok trend is making people sick
NOTE: MEAWW is only reporting on this dangerous trend, and under no circumstance do we encourage anyone to try it. In fact, we advise all our readers not to. If, however, you have an impressionable mind and easily succumb to suggestions, then please stop reading now.
Some TikTok trends are not for the fainthearted. And no, we're not talking about a dance routine or a lip-syncing video. Every now and then, a challenge or a trend takes over the video-sharing app that makes for upsetting headlines. The latest, #frozenhoneychallenge, has not only made some participants sick but also given many upset stomachs. The trend involves frozen honey - and it is not the best, many on social media have rightly pointed out.
The viral trend shows people freezing a bottle of honey for at least eight hours and then chowing down on it once it's reached a gel-like state. While one would think there is pretty much no way that honey can harm you, it looks like it has some pretty severe side effects - so much so that experts are warning against the trend. TikTokers who have tried out the latest craze claimed that it caused excessive bowel movements after consumption.
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Where the trend started is unknown, but it sure has taken social media by storm as thousands of posts were shared under #frozenhoney tag on TikTok and it has over 707.9 million views. The hashtag "#FrozenHoneyChallenge" has been viewed more than 80 million times
The problem is with the amount of honey that people are eating. Instead of just taking a tablespoon, people are consuming it in massive quantities. This has resulted in major digestion issues and sharp stomach pains, some so painful that users also wrote about wanting their stomachs pumped.
"I feel sick now," a user wrote beneath a video of herself trying the trend. "[Be right back] gotta go get my stomach pumped," another user said.
And those who did not try the trend themselves are calling it out anyway. "AS IF dentists have to come out and tell people the #frozenhoney trend on TikTok is harmful to your teeth. I’m not surprised, my own teeth start to hurt just watching those videos!" Another wrote, "Someone please end this #frozenhoney trend."
AS IF dentists have to come out and tell people the #frozenhoney trend on TikTok is harmful to your teeth. I’m not surprised, my own teeth start to hurt just watching those videos!
— Denise H (@weesisworldblog) August 4, 2021
Why is it bad for your health?
Kristin Kirkpatrick, a registered dietician at the Cleveland Clinic, told NBC News that the side effects people have experienced coincide with that of fructose malabsorption, which happens when the intestines aren't able to properly break down fructose.
"Honey is great, but having it in small amounts to sweeten is really a healthy relationship with food, and using it to get a lot of followers and a lot of attention and having it in excess amounts is crazy," Kirkpatrick said. "I don't see a huge risk with the short-term aspect for someone who has this fructose malabsorption other than what they're going to experience, which is awful diarrhea, stomach pain and things like that because they're not breaking it down correctly," she said.
