Frozen honey challenge: It is grabbing headlines and here’s why you should probably avoid it!

Ah challenges. They never seem to be ending do they? One such challenge that has surfaced up on every phone screen right now is the ‘frozen honey challenge’. But hey, before you rush in to try out it for yourself, it is best advised to know everything about it before you indulge in this sweet challenge.

On that sweet note, what is the challenge?

The frozen honey challenge is a bottle of honey which has been frozen long enough (approximately eight hours) so that the honey oozes out of the bottle in a semi-solid state.

The challenge went viral last month when US-based TikTok user Davey RZ (or as his TikTok handle says daveyrz) posted a video with a frozen honey bottle where he says “let’s see if we can attract some bees”. The TikTok user further goes to open the bottle, squeeze it out, and bites into a massive chunk of the now-solidified honey. Several users also substitute the honey with corn syrup.

As satisfying as it looks and as delicious as it might taste, when watching someone indulge in a big bite of gooey honey, it does raise a few eyebrows and concerns among several viewers and healthcare experts.

Health may not be wealth when it comes to frozen honey

Dubai-based orthodontist specialist Dr Karthik Jayakumar at Dr. Sirajuddin Medical Centre said: “Honey is viscous and tends to stick to your teeth once consumed. While using it occasionally is fine, honey still has quite a high amount of sugar, which in turn doesn’t suit teeth when eaten often. As taught when all of us were young, brushing is key and compromising on your oral health could result in a more painful, complicated and harmful future.”

Once Davey’s video went viral, TikTok users have then taken it into their own hands where they’ve created their own personal renditions of the challenge by trying it out with corn syrups, Boba and even pancake syrup.

While oral health may be the first of your concerns, it does take a toll on the rest of your body, too.

“Honey is a naturally available healthy food rich in antioxidants and certain vitamins and minerals. Recently the trend of freezing honey and eating it like thick blocks has … impacts. Advantages include freezing may make it more palatable ….. It also gives … filling effect due to the high levels of sugar in it,” said Dr Srinivas Patnaikuni, Specialist, Gastroenterologist, Prime Medical Centre.

“But along with these … seem to be having a higher impact on one’s body post consumption. Short term effects include abdominal cramps due to high sugar load consumption at once, increased acidity and diarrhoea due to high sugar load on intestines if there's regular consumption.

“In addition to this, there are a few long-term effects as well, where a person could gain weight due to the excess consumption of carbohydrates, rise of blood sugar levels, dental decay and infections due to small solid honey blocks getting stuck in teeth, along with fluctuations in blood pressure due to antioxidants mediated lowering of blood pressure. Hence, we recommend consumption of honey in limited and required quantities in its natural form,” he added.

To try or not to try

Several viewers have praised and tried out the challenge for themselves, calling it “cool”, “tasty” and even “satisfying”, whereas there are quite a few viewers who do feel otherwise. Comments of “this makes me sick”, “seeing this gives me diarrhoea”, “why do people like the taste of this” and so on have also surfaced in these videos.

While many social media users continue to take the trend further, the tasteful challenge is presently receiving a lot of backlash.

Tried out any other food challenges like these? Tell us about it on food@gulfnews.com