Most of the substance that causes the hot sensation (capsaicin) is concentrated in the veins of the peppers and the seeds (which are next to the veins. The heat intensity for these peppers ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 Scoville Units. Jalapeno pepper lovers enjoy the warm, burning sensation when eaten. They are green when ripe and red when fully or over-ripe. These peppers are usually 2 to 3 inches long and about an inch wide. Even people who are not pepper fans usually know of the Jalapeno. Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of Tonic delivered to your inbox weekly.The Jalapeno (pronounced ha-la-PAY-nyo) was the first pepper ever taken into space (1982) and it may be the most popular pepper. Capsaicin is fat soluble, so yogurt or milk really can help absorb the chemical and provide you with some relief. And for those times when you over-do it, have some full-fat dairy on-hand. Overall, experts agree that if you eat spice in moderation, you’ll likely be fine. “Paradoxically, even though it might generate some momentary burning," Julius says, "it could lead to a longer lasting analgesia for certain types of irritancy or pain." Applying capsaicin directly to the skin in high doses can overwhelm the receptors, numbing or damaging the nerves so that they no longer release inflammatory chemicals or send pain signals to the brain. Capsaicin also appears to act as an appetite suppressant, perhaps because of some of the not-so-pleasant effects in your gut.Ĭapsaicin patches and creams are also approved for pain relief, particularly chronic nerve pain. Hot peppers could also be a potential weight loss aid as your body’s efforts to cool you down burns extra calories. What’s more, research in mice suggests that capsaicin could help prevent cancer or shrink tumors in the gut. Eating chili peppers, for instance, has been linked to a lower risk for mortality, possibly by improving blood flow. In fact, many of the same effects that are damaging at high doses are actually beneficial in low doses. Barad says the study is “mildly interesting” but isn’t something doctors or scientists are getting worked up about. I’m not sure this is generalizable to anyone else besides this one unique person,” she says. So what about the extreme, life-threatening reactions? Meredith Barad, a neurologist at Stanford who specializes in headaches, says that a reaction like the New York man’s is not common. Unfortunately, pain fibers are even “present in other places that we don’t talk about politely," Prescott says, "you know, the day after the chili hits." Mucus production in your gut ramps up in a final attempt to purge the offending substance out the other end as fast as possible, ultimately resulting in diarrhea. You might feel like you’re going to vomit. Capsaicin binds to heat receptors located on pain nerve fibers throughout your body, tricking your brain into thinking parts of your body are literally burning.Īs the pepper moves through your stomach and intestines, the pain and inflammation follow it. The active chemical in chili peppers that gives them their fire is capsaicin. What the hell is happening to these people? And is there a real danger in eating extremely spicy food? “When you experience a hot chili pepper, it’s not a taste response, it’s a pain response,” says David Julius, a professor of physiology at UC San Francisco. Doctors discovered that these severe sudden-onset headaches, which often predict a hemorrhage or a stroke, were caused by the constriction of several arteries in his brain, which they attributed to the chili pepper. More recently, a 34-year-old man in New York developed “thunderclap headaches” after eating a Carolina Reaper at a chili pepper competition. In Turkey, two men had heart attacks after taking cayenne pepper pills for weight loss. However, a few rare cases have resulted in more serious consequences. While these reactions are scary, they’re not life-threatening.
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