A 13-year-old boy from Ohio has died after participating in the so-called Benadryl challenge, a dangerous trend circulating on TikTok. Jacob Stevens passed away last week, six days after consuming a large quantity of the over-the-counter allergy medication.
According to his father, Justin Stevens, Jacob was at home with friends when he attempted the challenge. As his friends filmed, the teenager suffered a seizure. At the hospital, doctors informed Mr Stevens that his son would not regain consciousness.
The Benadryl challenge involves taking 12 to 14 pills of diphenhydramine, nearly double the recommended daily dosage, in order to induce hallucinations. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about the trend in 2020, noting that it can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or death.
This is not the first fatality linked to the challenge. A 15-year-old girl from Oklahoma died in 2020, and Cook Children's Medical Center in Texas reported treating three teenagers hospitalised after excessive consumption of the drug. TikTok has since banned searches for “Benadryl” on its platform, but alternative hashtags continue to surface.
In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said: 'The safety and well-being of our users is TikTok’s top priority. We do not allow content that encourages dangerous challenges that might lead to injury.' Benadryl's parent company, Johnson & Johnson, also condemned the trend, urging social media platforms to remove related content.
