A number of children and adults have visited emergency rooms with serious stomach irritation, and "super spicy snacks" may be to blame.
Doctor Martha Rivera of White Memorial Medical Center said she sees five or six individuals with gastritis (an inflammation of the stomach lining) every day.
"We have a population who loves to eat the hot spicy, not real foods, and they come in with these real complaints," Dr. Rivera told KABC.
Symptoms of gastritis include: vomiting, bloating, the hiccups and a burning sensation.
Twelve-year-old Andrew Medina complained of periodic stomach pains and a burning sensation on his left side for several weeks before he was finally taken to a doctor, KABC News reported.
"[It's] like if you have a bruise or something. It really hurts a lot," Medina told KABC.
Spicy chips and snacks can increase acidity in the stomach lining.
"It burns when it goes down, it burns when it comes out," said Rivera.
Doctor Rivera believes these types of incidents can set kids up for future stomach complications.
"You set up for ulcerations, erosions and so you can set up to get peptic ulcer disease in these children," Rivera told KABC.
Rivera said she has seen kids "doubled over in pain" from ingesting large amounts of spicy snacks.
Rivera advises parents to replace things like spicy chips with string cheese when choosing snacks for their kids.
Medina said he will try his best to stop eating the spicy chips, but admitted that it will be difficult.
In response to a similar event, the Frito-Lays company said they were "committed to responsible and ethical marketing practices, which includes not marketing our products to children ages 12 and under."
Doctor Robert Glatter, an emergency room physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, believes the gastrointestinal woes can be blamed on the chip's coating, ABC reported.
"In the past, I had not seen any problems with snack food until spicy flavoring became more popular," Glatter told ABC.
Glatter said he thinks kids "seek out the burn."
"It's almost like a food addiction. They seek out the burn," Glatter said. "It's a little thrill-seeking. 'It's like how much can I tolerate?' and I've seen a number of children who eat four or five bags and come in screaming in pain."
