Russian roulette is a terrible idea. And maybe the same goes for Doritos. (Photo: Doritos)

Over the past year, Doritos’ new ‘Roulette’ flavor began rolling out, first in foreign markets like the UK and Canada and they’re now widely available in the United States. The idea was simple: most of the chips in a given bag would have the brand’s classic, cheesy flavor, but just a few would be mind-blowingly spicy.

Like a game of Russian Roulette with snack chips.

Crazy kids and vloggers have been documenting the carnage on social media, some with the hashtag #BurnSelfie.

How hot are they exactly? Scary hot. The George Pindar School in Scarborough, UK just had to ban the chips after a 14-year-old student with asthma suffered frightening breathing difficulties.



“I started retching, so I ran to the toilet and was sick. I had four mugs of milk and my throat still wouldn’t stop burning. I couldn’t breathe properly and I really thought I was going to die,” George Pindar student Beth Laybourn told The Sun, adding, “I couldn’t stop crying. It was the worst attack I’ve ever had. It was terrifying.”

Was asthma to blame? Maybe not, according to allergist and asthma specialist Flavia Hoyte, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver, who also specializes in food allergies. Although she has never treated Laybourn, she suspects two potential culprits may have been to blame for the symptoms she experienced after downing that ultra-hot Dorito.

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“In general, there isn’t a correlation between asthma attacks and spicy food,” Hoyte tells Yahoo Health. “Oftentimes, when we think of spicy foods causing breathing difficulties, we think of reflux. This may have been a very bad reflux event, where the spicy Dorito triggered acid to the top of the esophagus. A small amount can then enter the lungs, which may cause burning and breathing difficulties.”

Hoyte, however, thinks there might be an even likelier culprit in this case. “The spicy chip may have caused something called ‘vocal cord dysfunction,’ which you don’t hear a lot about in the media,” she explains.

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Think about where the vocal cords rest in your throat. “If the vocal cords are irritated by something like spicy food as it goes down, it can easily mimic asthma,” Hoyte says. “The cords can spasm and clamp down on themselves from the irritation, which can cause difficulty breathing. In turn, that can make a person anxious, which may lead to more breathing troubles. It’s a compounding effect, and it can easily be triggered by spicy food.”

Hoyte says to simply be extra careful when eating spicy foods in general, especially if you have a history of reflux or vocal cord dysfunction. “People just need to exercise caution,”she says. “Take small bites first, before diving in head first.”

And, of course, you can avoid playing roulette with these particular Doritos altogether.

In regards to the incident at George Pindar, Aurora Gonzalez, a spokesperson from PepsiCo, tells Yahoo Health: “We were sorry to hear about what happened. We do warn people to expect a seriously spicy experience with Doritos Roulette and we make this clear on the pack and in our advert. The front of the pack states ‘Warning: Some of these chips are ultra spicy,’while we also say that Doritos Roulette are not recommended for young children.”

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