Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

FDA warns against Nyquil chicken TikTok trend (yes, really)

Another dangerous TikTok trend strikes again

Lindsay Parrill
By

It should come as no surprise in a world where moronic ideas such as eating Tide Pods and drinking bleach to cure Covid are things we have to actually tell people not to do, but it seems we have a new alarming TikTok trend on the loose. “Sleepy Chicken” is the newest fad that’s just as stupid as it is dangerous. In videos surfacing all over social media, people are cooking chicken in NyQuil. Yep. You read that right. You can’t make this stuff up.

Wait what the fuck people are cooking chicken in nyquil I’m gunna be sick pic.twitter.com/kXkJauxHYR

Related Videos

— ToasteonYukitake 🦊 Freshly Baked Fox God (@Toasteon_En) September 16, 2022

Videos are showing people pan-searing chicken breasts using the popular medication as a cooking agent, in lieu of butter or oil. The result is a blue-tinged, toxic-waste-looking revolting mess. If that weren’t disgusting enough, the chicken is then set aside while the used, cooked NyQuil is poured back into the bottle for later use. And the ick doesn’t stop there. More videos are starting to appear with different versions of the “recipe” like NyQuil macaroni and cheese.

Related

Even if people don’t realize how incredibly dangerous this is from a medical standpoint, it’s hard to grasp wanting to try this “dish” from a culinary perspective either. And while most of these videos are “comedic” in nature and not meant to be taken seriously, some are actually being advertised as serious recipes, and people are trying it (because of course they are). The FDA was concerned enough by the challenge that they issued a warning last week, stating, “The challenge sounds silly and unappetizing — and it is. But it could also be very unsafe. Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways. Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the medication’s vapors while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter your body. It could also hurt your lungs. Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realizing it.”

So even if the videos are only being made as “jokes” with no plans to eat the chicken? They’re still dangerous.

According to the National Capital Poison Center, “Since many of the TikTok NyQuil chicken videos involve the use of an entire bottle (or more) of NyQuil, it is possible that large amounts of NyQuil can be absorbed into the chicken during the cooking process. Liquid NyQuil contains alcohol that may evaporate during the cooking process, leaving behind high concentrations of the active ingredients. This can lead to potentially life-threatening toxicity once the chicken is consumed.”

TikTok has now blocked the search term “NyQuil Chicken” but good lord, did they really have to? Let’s do better, people.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Is erythritol harmful? What a dietitian says new data means for your Keto diet
Erythritol is common in many keto foods - what does that mean for your health?
erythritol in keto diet advice

While sugar substitutes have been around for more than a century, they didn't really become mainstream here in the United States until around the mid-70s. According to Carolyn De La Pena, professor of American Studies at UC Davis and author of Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda, between 1975 and 1984, Americans increased their consumption of artificial sweeteners by 150 percent. This timeline makes sense when you take into account that the late seventies coincided with the start of our crazed diet culture and the revolving door of fad diets.
One such diet that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, however, is the Keto diet. Still hugely popular among Americans trying to shed a few pounds, Keto focuses heavily on limited or no carbohydrates. Because sugar contains carbohydrates, followers of Keto have turned to artificial sweeteners to satisfy those late-night cravings - sweeteners that, more often than not, contain erythritol. Erythritol in particular has become hugely popular because it's much better for baking than other sugar substitutes, has less of an artificial flavor, and will keep the eater in Ketosis, which is key for losing weight on the Keto diet.
A new study has made waves recently because its findings indicate there's a link between erythritol and higher rates of heart attack and stroke (though the study did note that only an association was found — not causation. So should you be worried?
We asked Dan LeMoine, RD, the award-winning author of Fear No Food and the Clinical Director at Phoenix-based Re:vitalize Nutrition, what he had to say about erythritol, including its benefits and potential health risks. "Artificial sweeteners are still sweeteners. While many are non-nutritive or zero-calorie, we tend to view them similarly as we do regular sweeteners or sugars — moderation is key. While many have amazing implications on weight loss – being low to no-calorie options and having little impact on blood sugar, some have their downside," he says.

While some of that sugar substitution has been good for waistlines and health issues that come from obesity, it seems to be causing more and more concern when it comes to other potential health issues. "For example," says LeMoine, "some research indicates the popular sweeteners stevia may have negative effects on the gut microbiome. And the recent study showing correlation between the sugar alcohol, erythritol, and heart attack and stroke."

Read more
Feeling adventurous? 5 of the weirdest cocktails from around the globe
Would you order a cocktail with a pickled human toe? You can in Canada, apparently
unusual and unique cocktails sourtoe cocktail

We all love a good cocktail, but it's easy to tire of the classics. There's nothing wrong with a perfectly frosty, salted-rimmed margarita, or a warm-to-your-bones, cherry-topped old-fashioned, but sometimes, you just want something new. Something that makes you think. Something that, perhaps, gives you a chuckle. These are those cocktails.
Pig's Blood Piña Colada (USA)

Back in 2014, bartender Jason Brown of Chicago's Kinmont restaurant and bar, concocted this cocktail after listening to a Werewolves of London lyric about a werewolf drinking a pina colada. His creativity sparked, and the "Werewolves of London" cocktail was born.

Read more
These foods high in melatonin will help you sleep better
Get a better sleep naturally by eating these 9 melatonin foods
Hands holding wine grapes.

Getting a quality night's sleep becomes more and more of a challenge as we age. Some of us have tried blackout curtains, sleep masks, weighted blankets, or any number of supplements promising better rest. If you're looking for an all-natural solution, though, melatonin is the way to go. Melatonin is a hormone produced naturally in the pineal gland in the brain. Among several functions, melatonin plays a key role in regulating the body’s circadian rhythms, or sleep-wake cycles. Accordingly, the pineal gland produces more melatonin when the sun goes down, and levels dip at daybreak. Foods high in melatonin or even melatonin supplements are a popular way to increase the concentration of melatonin and possibly improve the quality and quantity of sleep.
Melatonin supplements are typically non-habit-forming and safe for adults and children in doses of around 0.5 to 5 milligrams. However, melatonin supplements may cause drowsiness, nausea, and dizziness, and they can interfere with certain medications.

Fortunately, if you’re looking to support your body’s own natural melatonin levels but you don’t want to rely on supplements, there are several sleep-aid foods that contain melatonin. Adding any of these foods high in melatonin to your dinner plate or bedtime snack routine may help regulate your sleep patterns over time and help you get more restful sleep. Though little nutritional data exists about the specific concentration of melatonin in different foods, the following foods are known to be particularly high in melatonin.

Read more