Apparently, some people prefer Nyquil-soaked chicken to the real stuff.Zachary Clingenpeel | ZClingenpeel@mlive.com

Yes. It has come to this.

The Food and Drug Administration is warning people against taking part in an online trend that involves using over-the-counter drugs, most notably liquid NyQuil or other cough and cold medication, in cooking.

Videos show users marinating or cooking chicken in the blue green Nyquil liquid, supposedly to address cold symptoms. The “sleepy chicken” challenge isn’t just silly and unappetizing, the FDA said, it could also be very unsafe.

“Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways. Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the medication’s vapors while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter your body. It could also hurt your lungs. Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realizing it,” the FDA said.

The FDA advises people keep drugs away from children and lock up medications to prevent overdoses and the temptation to take part in the latest challenge.

“Sit down with your children and discuss the dangers of misusing drugs and how social media trends can lead to real, sometimes irreversible, damage. Remind your children that overdoses can occur with OTC drugs as well as with prescription drugs,” FDA said.

It’s not the latest TikTok challenge that involve OTC medication. An earlier TikTok challenge urged people to take large doses of allergy medication, such as Benadryl, to try and induce hallucinations. That challenge prompted a warning from the FDA about the danger of high doses of diphenhydramine.

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