Over the past couple of years, Europeans have popularised "snorting chocolate".
This trend is now being picked by the US in the form of “Coco Loko” – a product sold as a stimulant and stress reducer,
reports CNN.
What is Coco Loko?
The 29-year-old American man, Nick Anderson, who is the founder of the company Legal Lean, came up with the idea for the product Coko Loko.
According to Anderson, this “snortable chocolate powder” mostly consists of raw cacao powder and regular energy drink ingredients such as gingko biloba, taurine and guarana.
Anderson told CNN: "You get a nice minor euphoric rush. You feel a calm energy and focus. You feel motivated to want to go out and dance or be social. You feel yourself; you just feel a nice positive vibe and energy to you."
He came up with the idea to produce Coco Loko after watching YouTube videos about people snorting chocolate in Europe. However, he did not consult with any medical expert prior to launching the product. He figured to go on with the product when he noticed that media had stopped discussing snorting chocolate.
Anyone over the age of 18 can purchase Coco Loko from online where it has being on retail for a month. It is gradually making its way into smoke and tobacco shops. Over the last few weeks, it has already sold about 2,000 units online – each for $24.99.
The sale of Coco Loko is legal in the US. However, the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told CNN that “is not prepared to issue a determination regarding whether and how this product is subject to FDA jurisdiction at this time. In reaching that decision, FDA will need to evaluate the product labeling, marketing information, and/or any other information pertaining to the product's intended use."
The founder, however, is standing by his product as “there have been no adverse effects of snortable chocolate reported after two years on the market in Europe.”
Are there any health issues involved?
According to Dr Ryan Stanton, an emergency physician and spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, Coco Loko's ingredients “do not tend to cause many issues in humans when eaten” however, the way in which people are supposed to ingest the powder is risky.
Snorting chocolate could harm one's nasal passage and there is an even a graver risk “if powder that does not get caught in the nose [and] ends up in the lungs”.
He told CNN that there was a reason why our GI tract is completely separate from the breathing tract – “the stomach is designed to take in things and deal with them, whereas the lungs were designed for air”. Our lungs “are not designed to deal with being a filter” which is what happens when one is snorting foreign substances.
These substances in the lungs can cause tissue scarring and chemical pneumonitis, or inflammation of the lung caused by inhaling irritants. This is exactly what happened to many of his patients who were snorting flavoured sugar – another recent trend.
He said that people who have asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung disorders are especially “susceptible to this type of harm when snorting powdered substances”.
He added: "There's no reason to snort chocolate. You can eat chocolate. We know there's health benefits to dark chocolate, but that's eating it. There's no reason to think you need to snort these different things to make it better."
