"A quick scroll through TikTok reveals thousands of people taking on the 'chia seeds challenge' blissfully unaware that their lives could be at risk. The trend involves drinking a cup of water containing two tablespoons of chia seeds for anything from seven to 40 consecutive days - with devotees claiming it's helped them shed substantial amounts of weight with minimal effort."
"If eaten raw and chased down with a glass of water, the seeds could cause choking - or even suffocation - because they can create a life-threatening obstruction in the throat. It might sound like an urban legend, but in 2014 an unidentified man presented at a North Carolina hospital unable to swallow - and chia seeds were the cause. Dr. Rebecca Rawl, MD, who helped treat the patient said that the mass became like plasticine."
Thousands of people on TikTok are consuming two tablespoons of chia seeds soaked in a cup of water daily for periods of seven to 40 days, claiming rapid weight loss. Chia seeds are highly hydrophilic, absorbing up to 27 times their weight and forming a thick gel. The gel can act as a laxative but may also draw water from the digestive tract and form life-threatening obstructions. Eating raw seeds and chasing with water can cause choking or suffocation if a gel mass forms in the throat. A 2014 hospital case required endoscopic removal after a congealed chia mass became Play-Doh-like and resisted standard tools.
Read at Mail Online
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]