People are boiling chicken in cough syrup as doctors blast dangerous TikTok trend
17.01.2022 - 17:45
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Doctors are concerned over a new TikTok trend that could cause "sickness and diarrhoea".
The new trend, which is currently sweeping the social media site, sees people attempt to "remedy" cold and flu symptoms by boiling chicken in cough syrup.
Videos show people cooking a dish known as 'NyQuil chicken' in a trend that's been dubbed 'sleepy chicken'.
The worrying new 'wellness' trend involved pouring half a bottle of the flu medicine into a hot pan while cooking the poultry.
In one clip uploaded by a man called Rob, he places two chicken breasts into a pan and fries them at a low temperature, the Daily Star reports.
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".
He says: "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, physician and assistant clinical professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, has spoken out about the danger of the trend.
"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," he told MIC.com.
"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."
The expert said the cooking method could likely lead to food poisoning, which will likely lead to sickness and diarrhoea.
TikTok viewers were stunned as they watched the video, with one saying: "We’re