A trend is blowing up on TikTok of people leaving honey in their fridge overnight until it becomes thick and gooey. While it might be fun, dentists are warning that the hardened honey might cause damage to your teeth.
Everyone loves a good TikTok trend, especially when it relates to food. Who doesn’t like the sound of super cold honey on a hot summer evening? However like with all things, there’s no reward without risk.
Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, and Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine says that “any time you harden something, you run the risk of breaking your teeth” and that the frozen honey can be “brutal” on your teeth.
The TikTok trend tells people to leave their honey in a plastic bottle or container. This is because glass can crack when freezing things and the next day it’s set thick. Because of the high sugar content in honey, it doesn’t completely set forming a more toffee-like substance when frozen.
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That allows you to squeeze the honey out and some people eat it straight from the bottle. I would not recommend it if you are susceptible to brain-freezes.
People have also been doing other versions of the trend with bubble teas as well as mango CoolAid. Others have been putting food dye in their honey to make it turn out with different colors too.
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How bad is the frozen honey trend for your teeth?
Despite the high sugar content in honey, Wolff said that “it does not cause as much of a change in the pH as far as dissolving teeth” compared to things like refined or table sugar.
Nevertheless, he said that eating large quantities doesn’t mean your teeth will be fine – “it’s just not as aggressive,” he says. One also has to consider the impacts of eating large quantities of sugar in one go.
Compared to other TikTok trends such as the garlic-up-nose trend and the extremely dangerous Blackout trend, this trend appears to be less of a health risk.
However, there are 21 calories in just a teaspoon of honey so a whole bottle is a lot more than that. Rowse Honey, which features in a lot of the videos, is 340 calories per 100 grams so best to eat your frozen honey in moderation.