My friends want me to try Whip-Its. Is it safe?
The short answer: No!
The explanation: Nitrous oxide is often used as a culinary tool for whipping or foaming creams and sauces, infusing oils with flavors, or rapidly pickling vegetables. However, the easy accessibility of nitrous oxide canisters, and their glamorization on social media has led to increased recreational use that is causing a significant rise in emergency health care incidents. In Michigan alone, calls to the poison control center for adverse health effects from recreational inhalation increased by 533% from 2019 to 2024; while related deaths also increased more than 500% between 2010 and 2023.
What should you know about nitrous oxide:
- Whether called “laughing gas,” “whip-its,” “nos,” “nangs” or any other slang, it is all nitrous oxide.
- Nitrous oxide can be safely used for culinary purposes and in medical and dental settings, frequent or long-term use and inhaling more than is medically needed can have serious adverse health effects.
- While nitrous oxide is inhaled by some people for its momentary “high,” that high can be accompanied by immediate risks including asphyxiation, loss of consciousness, heart attack, and stroke.
- Long-term effects can include severe neurological damage and negative psychiatric effects, with an increased risk of depression, psychosis, paranoia, memory loss, muscle spasms, weakened immune system, or even death.
- Nitrous oxide products may be deceptively labeled with flavors or sold in containers not typical for culinary use.
- Regular recreational use can lead to addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
While there are proper uses for nitrous oxide in the culinary and medical worlds, recreational use on even a limited basis is unsafe. If you have used it and experience any concerning symptoms, stop use immediately and contact a healthcare provider or poison center.
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