TikTok users have been warned against participating in the ‘cooking’ chicken in cough syrup challenge.
A doctor warned against the challenge which the social media platform users have been engaging in because they think it can cure a cold.
The worrying trend has been popular this year and has been marketed as a ‘wellness’ hack. People are seen boiling chicken portions in pots filled with cough syrup in the challenge, and it’s become known as “NyQuil” chicken on social media.
In one TikTok clip, a man was seen placing two chicken breasts into a pan and frying them at a low temperature. He then pours in “four thirds” of the greenish-blue syrup over the chicken and lets it boil for 30 minutes.
Bizarrely, he brings mini hair straightening irons to flip the chicken to get both sides “seasoned”. The TikTok user then said;
“Sometimes the steam really makes you sleepy. You are looking for that blue colour right there.
“Then drain the unused syrup back into the can.”
Since the video went viral, many said they’d be trying the “sleepy chicken” dish. Dr Aaron Hartman, a physician and assistant clinical professor of family medicine, has now spoken out about the danger of the trend, saying it could be making you very sick.
Dr Hartman told MIC;
“When you cook cough medicine like NyQuil, you boil off the water and alcohol in it, leaving the chicken saturated with a super concentrated amount of drugs in the meat.
“If you ate one of those cutlets completely cooked, it’d be as if you’re actually consuming a quarter to half a bottle of NyQuil.”
He noted that the challenge could likely lead to food poisoning.
