Some popular spicy snacks are under a bit of fire, as doctors warn they could be harming children.
Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Takis, a Mexican spiced corn chip, might be a little too hot for kids to handle.
With just a couple of bites, your mouth is on fire. A couple of reaches into the bag, and your fingers are stained red. Still, many kids can't get enough of these spicy snacks.
Clayton Elementary School student Isbella Ekizian says, "I really like how they're hot. I just like hot things. I don't know why, I just love it."
"I see them a lot. Pretty much everyday I see at least one person eating them," says student Mackenzie Wilson.
The crunchy craze even inspired a rap song from a group of kids in Minneapolis. It's already reached more than four million likes on Youtube.com.
But these Flamin' Hot Cheetos and peppery corn chips called Takis, are firing up some concern.
Sanger Pediatrics physician's assistant Christina Lopez says, "Every time I see a child that comes in with abdominal pain, the first question is what did you eat? Did you eat hot Cheetos? Hot nachos? Do you eat greasy foods? I ask them because in like 99% of the cases, that's the cause."
Christina Lopez says she sees it all too often. She says the spicy chips tearing up stomachs at an early age.
"It's bad because in the long run it can cause gastritis, inflammation of the stomach, it can cause ulcers. I even have kids ten or eleven years old that have ulcers in their stomach," says Lopez.
And just as bad as the spice, are the excessive amounts of fat and salt.
"It's the dyes, the fat, the irritation to the stomach. There are multiple factors that our causing health concerns for our kids, so isn't it better to avoid it?"
School officials at Clayton Elementary in Kingsburg do think it's best to avoid the chips altogether.
Superintendent Bill Mannlein says, "We don't provide them. We don't have a vending machine. We don't provide them through our food service program."
Doctors also say because the chips are loaded with fat and salt, kids can easily become addicted to them. It's best to keep children away from these types of foods, or at least limit the amount they eat.
We did call Children's Hospital of Central California about this issue. Officials there say they haven't seen any problems relating to these spicy snacks.
TXT 24
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