Health What Happens To Your Body When You Eat A Tide Pod?
Luckily, the 2017-2018 fad of eating Tide Pods is on its way out, and only a select few have been dumb enough to actually accept the challenge. The health effects of eating Tide Pods have been proven to be uniformly harmful, and doing so can have a long-term impact. Even so, those of us who are too smart to actually eat one of the colorful blobs are left with some pretty weird questions. What happens when you eat a Tide Pod? Will Tide Pods kill you? Why on earth would someone do this? While we may never fully understand the last one, we thankfully have answers to the other two.
You probably don't want to imagine how your body reacts to Tide Pods, as the results are anything but pretty. You're basically ingesting a time-sealed cocktail of poisons, and it's the kind that likes to coat things in corrosive foam. If it gets to your lungs, you may find yourself literally coughing up suds. Even though you'll probably survive the horrid experience, in a few rare cases, the colorful detergent packets have proven fatal. They may look tasty, and eating them is arguably pretty funny, but the results are no laughing matter.
Tide Pods Can Bore Holes In Your Stomach
Even if you manage to swallow a Tide Pod whole — without letting it dissolve in your mouth or seep into your lungs — you're not out of the woods. Tide Pods contain a concentrated mixture of soap and chemicals that can actually melt holes in your stomach via a horrifying process called liquefactive necrosis (or, when tissue dies and becomes pus). Some challengers are left with sizable holes in their stomachs, and might suffer from ulcers or bleeding in the stomach for some time. This can all happen mere seconds after the gel hits the tissue of the stomach or intestines.
Tide Pods Can Get Into Your Lungs
One of the biggest risks that comes with eating a Tide Pod is that the detergent can get into your lungs. Biting a Tide Pod and then breathing can pull the gel into your respitory system, and the burns usually suffered by your throat and mouth will be felt in your lungs instead. If your lungs get too burned, it can become difficult to get enough oxygen to function, and a hospital trip will be in your immediate future.
Breathing normally while the stuff is in your lungs can mix and churn the gel and make it foam. Before you know it, you'll be spitting, coughing, and vomiting brightly colored foam. If it puts holes in your throat, lungs, and stomach, you may also notice the foam is tinted pink with blood. The foam can get so thick that challengers risk asphyxiation.
Tide Pods Are More Toxic Than Liquid Detergent
Given the relatively small size of Tide Pods, you might think that they would be less harmful than liquid laundry detergent. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Liquid detergents are diluted with water, which leaves them thinner and less corrosive. You're less likely to suffer internal damage, and it's more likely to all come up if you vomit.
Tide Pods, on the other hand, are coated in gel that starts to dissolve when it comes into contact with your saliva or stomach acid. When the packet bursts in your tummy, you get a concentrated dose of undiluted soap and chemicals all at once. While you definitely shouldn't drink liquid detergent either, it is admittedly better for you than eating a Tide Pod.
Your Body Will Try Desperately Not To Swallow
Tide Pods are not meant to be eaten; your body knows this, even if your brain doesn't. Tide coats the pods with a special substance called Bitrex, which is used to dissuade children from eating them. The substance features the most bitter taste known to man, so you'll instantly want to get it out of your mouth.
Even if you do manage to keep it in your mouth, the coating has more to it than just taste. Trying to swallow the pod will cause a sudden wave of nausea. Your stomach will start churning up extra acid, with the intent of making you vomit, even if the pod has not yet left your mouth. When you eat a Tide Pod, your whole body slams the brakes and tell you to get it out of there.