Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods
Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods
The hot pepper linked to teen's death can cause arteries in the brain to spasm.
Harris Wolobah's cause of death is not yet determined; it's not certain if the chip is to blame.
Maybe, just maybe we should put our pitchforks away until we know if the chip mentioned is responsible?
But... my pitchfork?
Are you saying we shouldn't put all our chips in one basket?
Or not to count the chips before they hatch?
No. On the Internet, all human events occur in the 68% range.
Or you know we can use common sense and respect that there is simply no way the chip didn't at least contribute.
Headline: a single chip killed someone!
Article: the cause of death has not been determined
🤦♂️
Most annoying is how much the damn post has been upvoted
Thanks, that was my understanding, was wondering if I missed something
I can almost guarantee it wasn't the chip itself that did anything, but some underlying condition the kid already had that was exasperated by the spice. Perhaps even an allergic reaction. The media is blowing up on this without even knowing the actual cause of death.
Pretty fucken disgraceful if you ask me. Take a tragic accident, turn it into clickbait, and use it to drive traffic to your “news” site to get more eyes on your bullshit advertisements.
God I fucking hate this planet.
Yeah, as a hardened chillihead I've done extensive reading on the fruits and no where is risk of death ever listed as an issue.
Dragon's Breath and other extremely spicy peppers are definitely labeled with warnings that they can cause severe anaphylaxis and death by choking.
The media spins that a lot tho. The scientists that cultivated the Dragon Breath pepper and tested it on the scoleville scale gave it a typical boilerplate allergy warning; news spins that as "worlds hottest pepper is LETHAL."
Still no proof capsaicin caused the death. I'm eagerly awaiting for what the autopsy unveils
Also no proof it didn't... also interested to see what the autopsy unveils
There's no proof aliens didn't shoot him with an invisible laser... also interested to see what the autopsy unveils
Gonna be real mad if this ends up making it harder to get hot stuff. Don't push your limits folks, but don't restrict others.
Do you buy your hot food in specifically TikTok friendly, coffin shaped packaging explicitly labed as a challenge?
Let's hope they regulate greedy marketing not food sales.
Spicy challenge products have been sold like this since before TikTok was a thing.
Unfortunately that's significant element of that niche culture. Pushing your limit and proving just how spicy you can go is the point for most of them.
I'd just argue the warnings are for fluff to make the experience seem more authentic.
Actually, not fluff. From an article on this in the NYT
Also last year, about 30 public school students in Clovis, N.M., experienced health issues after eating the chip, KOB-TV of Albuquerque reported. As a preventive measure, the Huerfano School District in Colorado banned the chips, according to a post on its Facebook page.
In a 2020 study, researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center detailed the “serious complications” that can result from eating the Carolina Reaper pepper, noting that a 15-year-old boy had suffered an acute cerebellar stroke two days after eating one on a dare. The Carolina Reaper has been measured at more than two million Scoville heat units, the scale used to measure how hot peppers are. The Naga Viper has been measured at just under 1.4 million Scoville units. Jalapeño peppers are typically rated at between 2,000 and 8,000 units.
Also the videos of people all over the internet doing challenges like this and not dying.
No. It just highlights the stupidity of people following online challenges.
Apart from that, those chips were labeled 18+, IIRC. How the heck did they get into the mouth of a 14 year old?
The backside is clustered with warnings: https://i.imgur.com/Uh2jEl7.png
No warning that it might cause death though.
https://www.justia.com/products-liability/types-of-products-liability-claims/failure-to-warn/
Especially in this case, labeling something 18+ is just a marketing gimmick that makes it more likely for it to be eaten by 14 year olds.
There are no legal restrictions on selling it so someone will sell it, and it appearing "forbidden" makes it more attractive.
There are no legal restrictions on selling it so someone will sell it
There isn't in your place? What a lawless hellhole. Are kids allowed to buy booze and smokes, too?
because age limits don't work
I'm fine if an adult wants to take this kind of risk, but this kid died and other kids have been hospitalized. We protect children from all sorts of other risky things that we allow adults to purchase. I don't think we should allow children to purchase this.
No, it won't stop kids from getting ahold of it sometimes. We can't stop kids from getting ahold of alcohol and cigarettes all the time either. We should still make it as hard as possible for them to get it until they're adults- although I think 16 should be the drinking age and 18 the driving age, but that's another story.
From my understanding, this is the first case of actually serious consequences, and I'm sure millions of these chips have been eaten by now.
We need more stupid challenges that cause only pain but no serious, long term injury. It's a good way to learn not to do stupid challenges, keeping kids away from the stupider ones that are more likely to do permanent harm.
'The chip was only intended for adults'. I know there are plenty of adults that adore a challenge of spice foods. My experience in marketing tells me these people knew exactly what demographic they'd be hitting hardest with this type of challenge.
Seabrook's in the UK did Trinidad Scorpion crisps for a bit and they were gorgeous. Haven't seen them for a while either.
I really want one of these chips now, thanks little buddy.. your life was not lost in vain!!
The effects on blood pressure are well known, but that it can cause spasm of arteries is interesting.
Many people eat lots of spicy food daily and I never heard of serious health issues. Especially a single chip might contain a concentrated amount of capsaicin, but it is unlikely to contain much more in volume then a hot plate of chili con carne or even just a hand full of raw jalapenos. So I assume it is some underlying condition and a shock reaction and not the capsaicin itself.
I would love to see more research into this.
It contains some of the spiciest peppers in existence, with a rating of well over a million Scoville. Jalapeños go up to a rating of ~8000 Scoville.
It's incredibly spicy.
I could have also picked a habanero which is admittedly a lot more spicy and it used to be the hottest pepper in the world, but it usually doesn't cause a big reaction either.
Anyway, that's missing the point. I was talking about the total amount of capsaicin which can't be really high in just one chip. It is just a tiny amount of concentrated capsaicin and I believe that people usually consume more with a regular spicy meal. Hence my believe that not the capsaicin itself is the problem.
Yeah, but they sell sauces that go well above those chillis scoville ratings made with extracts that people eat all the time without dying.
I'm with you I regularly eat spicy food, and also grow my own scorpion and ghost peppers and add them into my cooking. I hate most hot sauces in general, as they're all burn and no flavour. I have however found some that do buck the trend, but in general I don't go for hot sauces too often
Is it subjective maybe? Do some people like it?
I'm sure it is subjective. My girlfriend is obsessed with hot sauces and loves adding them to food
If I make me did spicy though she doesn't add any which I take as a compliment
It's probably fine for industrial cooking where it's being heavily diluted. These crisps don't use it though.
I did the challenge two days ago. It was the third spiciest I’ve had. Was definitely something that could do harm to someone who doesn’t know how to handle ultra-spicy. The kid won a Darwin Award. You can’t ban spicy food nor should you. This is a parenting issue. If this kid didn’t die from this skull and crossbones coffin wrapped in warnings, it would have been some other TikTok challenge like drinking bleach.
Random fact, but children under 16 are not eligible for Darwin Awards.
https://darwinawards.com/rules/rules4.html
Also, I find it interesting that you are basically insulting this kid for doing something stupid while saying you did it in the same paragraph. I guess you are not stupid because it didn't kill you?
The "please pick up your kid they passed out" should have signalled to the parents to maybe visit a doctor. Maybe the mom deserves the award.
The instructions state that it is for adults only. I essentially have body training in handling extreme spicy. At 14, you are considered a man in most societies. Why should we wussify American youth? At that age, I was eating habaneros. I blame the parents for not introducing him to spicy food and allowing him to make an informed decision.
The 14 year old ate the chip at school, there's no mention of who gave the chip to him. It's a school administration problem, but hardly a parenting issue unless the mother bought the chip for her son and sent it to school with him. The mother came to pick the boy up right away when he complained of pain, rushed him to the hospital when he lost consciousness, and she is now speaking out to warn others about the dangers of this stupid challenge.
Tragic. This sort of thing should not be sold. Or at least require them to be an adult.
It's a gradient, right? And there probably should be a line somewhere. A line where on one side is considered generally safe and the other side should be considered risky. If this needs regulation, how do we define the line, and what sort of limit should be put on it?
In all the years of super spicy food existing on this planet, there are almost no deaths reported. He had some other undiagnosed health issue for sure. Waiting on the autopsy.
You're the only person asking my opinion about it - but I would generally be in favor of having a panel of qualified doctors, food scientists with published work in this field, and lawyers with experience in prosecuting food industry malfeasance to undertake a review of the case history and risk factors to propose a generally reasonable legal framework for what is an acceptable health risk for the general public, whom is most vulnerable and how the risk can be mitigated at point of sale, how those metrics can be rigorously upheld by the food industry, and what should be done with companies that fail to comply.
That sounds like what should happen in a world where a corn chip can kill a child.
Like the big "only for adult consumption" warning he ignored on the back of the box?
