YouTuber drinks cyanide to prove what it does to the body

'Seriously, don't try this at home'

Cody Don drinks cyanide in a YouTube video (CodysLab/YouTube)

Given that some YouTubers fake their children's deaths, while others apply one hundred layers of makeup onto their faces, it may seem that a vlogger drinking cyanide is the final act of desperation for attention online.

But Cody Don of the Cody’s Lab YouTube channel sprinkled the compound into water and drank the concoction in order to educate viewers about what the substance actually does to the body.

The video shows Cody shaving off a 17mg portion of cyanide, and drinking it as the warning “seriously don’t try this at home" flashes onto the screen.

“It tastes like baking soda”, he tells viewers, adding: “I've got a tremor [in his arm] and my breathing is slightly more rapid” because cyanide inhibits the body’s ability to absorb oxygen.

He then reassures viewers that, as a lethal dose is around 300mg for a person of his size, the small amount he took will not harm him.

In fact, there are small amounts of cyanide in some nuts and seeds, including almonds, meaning the liver is well-equipped to tackle the compound.

“What makes a poison is not the fact that it is a dangerous chemical, what makes it a poison is the dose,” he explains.

As the liver would generally destroy the small amount of cyanide he ingested in around 10 to 15 minutes, a person could –theoretically – eat small doses of the compound throughout the day and not be harmed, although it’s not recommended.

“There you go,” he says: “I drank cyanide and did not die.”