A dangerous new trend has emerged among TikTok users: Gym-goers are taking pre-workout powders without water, also referred to as “dry scooping.”
Some people claim that dry scooping can help your body absorb the compounds faster, producing a better workout, but these claims are not rooted in science.
Pre-workout powders are meant to be ingested before your workout to enhance your performance. They usually contain amino acids, B vitamins, caffeine, creatine, and artificial sweeteners, but quantities vary from brand to brand. Taking the pre-workout powder dry is supposed to make the energizing effects even more intense, however, it can seriously affect your heart and blood pressure because of the high levels of caffeine.
This practice comes with several potential risks, some of which may be serious. Dry scooping may be “cool,” but it is extremely dangerous.
For instance, one 20-year-old woman went to the hospital with a heart attack after dry scooping, Buzzfeed reported. And Newsweek reported on a fitness influencer who chased four dry scoops with another four scoops mixed with water and went to the ER with dangerously high blood pressure and brain swelling. Another woman appeared to have trouble breathing after dry scooping, according to Newsweek.
Dry scooping has the potential to cause heart attacks. According to the National Capital Poison Center (NCPC), some people who have engaged in the practice have experienced significant adverse effects that include heart problems.
More details of Doctors’ warning about this extremely dangerous challenge as reported by AWM:
“You have to use some common sense,” Dr. Saumil Oza, chief of cardiology at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Florida, told News4Jax. “Many things that you think are kind of crazy sounding actually are crazy-sounding for a reason because they could be hazardous to your health.”
Dr. Oza added, don’t just do “what somebody on TikTok tells you to do.” Being part of the latest social media trend is not worth risking one’s health over.
Many pre-workout powders include a lot of caffeine to help boost someone’s workout. They contain as much as three times the amount of caffeine found in a typical cup of coffee.
Dr. Joy Gelbman, a cardiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian, said: “That big jolt of caffeine can ramp up the heart rate and the blood pressure, essentially putting a strain on the heart that can lead to the release of this cardiac enzyme called troponin” which is associated with heart attacks, Gelbman told Women’s Health magazine. “If you take a big shot of caffeine like that, in addition to any other caffeine you’re drinking in your normal daily habits, it can spike the blood pressure or the heart rate or lead to heart rhythm disturbances, which can be pretty dangerous to an otherwise young, healthy person.”
If you feel the urge to join in on the dry scooping challenge, Doctors strongly urge you to resist it.
In addition to the fact that there’s no evidence it will boost the effectiveness of the pre-workout powder, it may be dangerous. You’re better off taking the steps known to help boost physical performance: Eat well, sleep enough, and stay hydrated.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: AWM, Buzzfeed, Newsweek