What Cooking Chicken in NyQuil Actually Does to Your Body

The FDA does not want you to cook your chicken in NyQuil.

Nobody, in fact, wants to cook their chicken in NyQuilthats the whole joke.

Now, is cooking NyQuil chicken truly deadly?

We dont have evidence of that,yet.

What is in NyQuil, anyway?

Acetaminophen is the same active ingredient as in Tylenol.

Its a fever reducer and pain reliever.

Its also notoriously toxic to the liver when ingested in large quantities.

Overdoses of this drug areresponsible for 500 deaths each year in the U.S., half of which are unintentional.

Acetaminophen toxicity is the second most common reason for liver transplants, after cirrhosis.

The toxic dose is estimated at 7.5 to 10 grams of acetaminophen per day.

A 12-ounce bottle of NyQuil contains 7.8 grams, putting the dosage right around that threshold.

If you do ingest a serious amount of acetaminophen, get to the emergency room right away.

Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant, so youll find it in a lot of cold medicines.

Its also notorious for causing hallucinations and dissociation.

(Again:do notchug a bottle of NyQuil, since it has potentially life-threatening levels of acetaminophen.

We havebetter legal highs for you here.)

The drug binds serotonin receptors, potentially leading to serotonin syndrome, which can be life threatening.

Severe casescan include seizures, rhabdomyolysis, kidney failure, and respiratory failure.

The dose that can cause complete dissociation and coma on its own is600 milligrams or higher.

High doses of doxylamine can cause hallucinations, but alsorespiratory failure, seizures, rhabdo, and coma.

The lethal dose of doxylamine has been estimated at 25 to 250 milligrams per kilogram bodyweight.

That lower level would equal 1,250 grams for a 50-kilogram (110-pound) teen.

(I imagine the researchers giving mice tiny cell phones to fully recreate the process.)

The other problem is that the ingredients in the syrup mayalsoboil off.

It could also hurt your lungs.

I find NyQuilChickenGate sociologically fascinating.

(See also: rainbow parties,tainted halloween candy.)

But here its obvious that nobody is eating NyQuil chicken.

Thats the whole joke.