A 22-year-old woman ended up in hospital after consuming too many Wingstop chicken wings. Nea-Jude Ioannou was rushed to King's College Hospital in London after being left bedridden with severe abdominal pain.
Paramedics feared appendicitis
The former student claims paramedics feared her appendix had burst. After six hours waiting in A&E, she was seen by doctors and given a CT scan, which revealed severe constipation caused by eating too many Wingstop takeaways. Nea-Jude had been placing two orders a week, opting for the spiciest flavour, Atomic, made with Habanero peppers measuring 200,000 to 350,000 Scoville Heat Units.
She said: "It started with pains in my lower abdomen that were building and building, then for three days I was basically bed-ridden unable to move. It was the worst pain that I have ever felt in my life. I wasn't able to eat or sleep because of the pain. Even the paramedics thought I might have appendicitis, so they immediately rushed me to A&E. It was just severe tummy issues from Wingstop."
Five days of suffering before calling for help
The stomach troubles were accompanied by night sweats, pins and needles, and pain when breathing. Nea-Jude hoped the symptoms would clear up on their own, but after five days she rang 111 and operators dispatched an ambulance to her Peckham accommodation. She arrived at hospital at around 6pm and didn't leave until 7am the following morning, with her father even catching a flight back from New York to be by her side.
When results revealed constipation, the doctor told her it is becoming increasingly common in Gen Z. Nea-Jude believes this is partly down to food influencers posting mukbang videos featuring extreme foods. She said: "There is such a culture around spicy food and mukbang culture now with trying the craziest foods. Now it is seafood boils and hotpots. I was getting the most crazy flavours ever. It is all about challenging yourself with food. I think mukbangs are contributing to the issue."
Marketing to students via buy now, pay later apps
Nea-Jude also holds money apps partly responsible for making takeaways more accessible, alongside fast food chains that target students through marketing campaigns. She added: "They were really marketing to students that you could buy now and pay later and I thought it was so easy so I was getting Wingstop all the time. Especially as a student it was really appealing because it was fast and the meal deals you could get were cheap for Deliveroo. The rise in how easy it is to get takeaways with these high salt low fibre meals just causes more issues with people's digestive systems."
Recovery and lifestyle change
Hospital staff provided pain relief and a fortnight's worth of laxatives, which took effect three days later, bringing considerable relief. Since the incident in 2024, Nea-Jude, now living in Crouch End, North London, takes her wellbeing more seriously and visits her GP regularly. She makes efforts to eat more wholesome foods, though she still occasionally treats herself to a takeaway, including Wingstop, but steers clear of the Atomic flavour. After sharing her story on TikTok, numerous others have said they experienced something similar. Nea-Jude concluded: "It really made me evaluate what I am putting in my body and since then I have been on a health grind. I still love a Wingstop as a treat. The food in moderation is fine, it is just the habit that I had with it."
