
Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers? - thetopher
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161020-can-you-hurt-yourself-eating-chilli-peppers
======
calvinbhai
I'm not sure why people go for the heat.

I'm from India and there are many hot/spicy options available. But most chili
peppers are used for their flavor or color (e.g. Kashmiri Red Chilli powder is
very red, less spicy) and varying the levels of heat/spiciness by adding more
of less of it, instead of using the spiciest variety (like the ghost peppers
that have caught the fancy of the west).

I wish the flavor component had some kind of a quantifiable unit instead of
the scoville units that has fueled this craze of feeling the burn.

Don't fall for this tongue numbing "hottest wings/sauce in the world". Enjoy
the flavor :)

~~~
crazygringo
Because sometimes you're eating some boring-ass flavorless overcooked chicken
breast with no skin and you need _something_ to make it palatable distract you
from what appears indistinguishable from tough, stringy cardboard. :)

But really, it's just fun. Enjoying extreme spiciness has nothing to do with
enjoying food. Think of it as just a totally separate activity.

And I get that plenty of people don't find tongue-numbing to be fun at all.
For all I know, there's a gene for it. But for those of us who _do_ find it
fun... it's fun!

~~~
flashman
> Enjoying extreme spiciness has nothing to do with enjoying food.

I'm convinced there's a significant element of machismo: "Are you tough enough
to eat this?"

------
huherto
Mexican here. I find it amusing that people focus on how spicy their peppers
are. They are missing the point. There are many pepper varieties and each has
a different flavor. That is the interesting part and how it mixes with
different foods in a variety of recipes. Focus on the flavor, not the burn.

~~~
blhack
I think it's kindof funny that people somehow associate Mexican and Indian
food with being spicy. I almost think it scares them off of trying some of
those dishes.

In my experience, Mexican food is _rich_ , but not spicy. Same thing with
(some) Indian food. Maybe I'm trying the wrong food, though? I've only
traveled in western India (Maharashtra). I would love some recommendations for
dishes to try!

BBQ (from the US) is the hottest food I have ever found. Mexican and Indian
food barely registers compared to that stuff.

~~~
jghn
Where are you finding BBQ which registers as "the hottest food"? I can't think
of a single regional BBQ style which would qualify as needle moving at all for
me.

~~~
chrismcb
I'm guessing you're never met "the man" direction Dixie's BBQ. I'm not a big
fan of spicy BBQ but there is definitely hot BBQ.

~~~
danshapiro
For the curious, this is a barbecue joint in Redmond, WA, just outside of
Seattle and near Microsoft's headquarters. The owner, Porter, is famous for a
hot sauce called "The Man" which is served out of a small, beat-up pot with a
long handled spoon. If you get him talking, he'll tell you a story about
someone trying to sell him capsicum extract-based sauce for his new BBQ
restaurant (there's another interesting backstory about it being a car repair
place previously). But it was too expensive, so he went upstream to his
supplier and started buying it wholesale. He cooks it up with peppers, but the
base is prefab.

It's also near-lethal... consume with caution.

Disclaimer: was last there >10 years ago, so much may have changed.

------
spikels
This article seems to say chilli peppers can't hurt you. However just a few
days ago the Journal of Emergency Medicine reported that a ghost pepper (a
very hot chilli pepper) caused an esophageal rupture - a serious and
potentially life threatening injury.

[http://www.jem-
journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/ful...](http://www.jem-
journal.com/article/S0736-4679\(16\)30256-6/fulltext?rss=yes)

Why is the BBC not aware of this? A simple search would have yielded a more
timely, accurate and interesting story. Somewhat disappointing.

~~~
vhost-
But was this due to the heat, acidity or some other characteristic of this
cross? Or was it because he swallowed a pepper whole and it tore a hole
because it went down sideways? You have to remember how much and how fast
people shove things into their mouths during these contests...

I can't find anything that tells me why it happened.

~~~
robryk
It's because of strain while vomiting:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerhaave_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boerhaave_syndrome)

------
yoamro
I'd be interested to see how someone would fare by chewing on some synsepalum
dulcificum aka miracle fruit [1] followed by a Ghost pepper. In theory, it
should be able to block out most of the TRPV1 heat receptors as well. If only
I did my thesis on this.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum)

~~~
StavrosK
Well, I have some old miracle fruit tablets and various spicy sauces I can try
if you want... Probably not Ghost pepper, though.

~~~
M_Grey
I for one, would be interested in the results of that!

~~~
StavrosK
Alright, I tried it for you guys:

I ate one miracle berry tablet (I think the recommended dose is half a tablet,
but screw it). The tablets were pretty old, so after consuming it I tested
with yoghurt to see if the results held up. Indeed, the yoghurt tasted like
cream and was not sour at all, so the tablet was good.

Afterwards, I tasted Sriracha sauce, Tapatio and Valentina Extra Hot. All
sauces retained their usual taste, except there was no burning sensation in
the tongue and mouth at all. However, the sauces retained their burning
sensation in the throat, completely intact, as far as I can tell.

I'm afraid that I didn't have a control spoonful of sauce before the tablet,
because I didn't think of it, but I can have some once the tablet wears out. I
seem to recall, though, that a spoonful of Sriracha does normally burn my
tongue.

~~~
yoamro
Thank you so much!! Interesting results and basically what I expected. I'll
try the same except with a habanero, wonder how far it goes.

~~~
StavrosK
I'm sure one of the sauces I tried has habaneros in it (probably the Tapatio,
possibly the Valentina). I think the effect should generalize well.

------
alyandon
Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers I've ever dared to eat directly. They
are so far beyond hot that I don't even feel a burning sensation - more like
pure, unadulterated pain like you'd expect from having a nail driven through
your tongue. I really don't like the flavor of them either so there isn't
really much motivation for me to ever eat one again. They are really great in
small quantities for spicing up dishes without altering the flavor of the dish
in question though.

Habanero peppers on the other hand - have a wonderfully fruity flavor. I wish
I had a bit more stamina with regards to eating them. :(

~~~
abakker
It wasn't a ghost pepper, but I once at a small green pepper that was so hot
that my tastebuds kind of short circuited, and all I could taste was roses.
After a few seconds of that, stye came back online with the excruciating burn
of a very hot pepper, but for about 3 seconds, I could have sworn I had eaten
a rose.

~~~
aaroninsf
<\-- would pay and suffer to experience this illusion!

~~~
blhack
Get yourself some "miracle berries" for something similar (although without
the heat involved).

------
agentgt
I used to be able to handle really hot peppers up in till college and then one
day during college completely over did it .

I'm not sure if that "day" was the cause of my increased sensitivity or if I
just age related but now I can barely enjoy red pepper flakes. Oh it goes down
just fine but later... later I'm writhing in pain rolling around in the bed at
night ... and then later on the toilet ... well I think you know what happens
next.

As I get older it seems to get worse which seems like it shouldn't. Shouldn't
the receptors be more tolerant? Or maybe it is more like allergens where there
is a certain threshold and then once that threshold is exceed you become more
and more sensitive (e.g. poison ivy does this).

BTW capsaicin does have a theoretical LD 50 based on mice. So yeah if you eat
enough it will probably kill you but it is an outrageous amount (~
50-100mg/kg). You would have to have it extracted to do it (some one actually
went ahead and did the math here on how many peppers:
[http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6810/can-you-
die...](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6810/can-you-die-from-
eating-chili-peppers)).

~~~
asteli
I had a similar experience. I grew up eating spicy food, with no issues
whatsoever, aside from the topside burn. At 21 I experienced a tipping point
wherein my gut became sensitive to spicy foods. I had to rethink my
relationship with spicy food, else cope with the symptoms you describe.

I am very curious what the physiological basis for this change is.

------
jobvandervoort
I always found it interesting that our way of rating spiciness is through the
subjective Scoville scale. Directly from wikipedia:

> In Scoville's method, an exact weight of dried pepper is dissolved in
> alcohol to extract the heat components (capsinoids), then diluted in a
> solution of sugar water.[3][4][5] Decreasing concentrations of the extracted
> capsinoids are given to a panel of five trained tasters, until a majority
> (at least three) can no longer detect the heat in a dilution.[4][5][6] The
> heat level is based on this dilution, rated in multiples of 100 SHU.[4]

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Scoville_organo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Scoville_organoleptic_test)

In other words, the test is fully subjective and has been found to be
unreliable:

> A weakness of the Scoville Organoleptic Test is its imprecision due to human
> subjectivity, depending on the taster's palate and their number of mouth
> heat receptors, which varies greatly among people.[6] Another weakness is
> sensory fatigue:[6] the palate is quickly desensitised to capsaicins after
> tasting a few samples within a short time period.[4] Results vary widely (up
> to ± 50%) between laboratories

~~~
avar
It's not "fully subjective" by any sensible definition. Yes humans are the
measurement device, and humans differ and are unreliable, but given a
sufficient number of samples you arrive at more accurate numbers.

Nobody's going to give a paprika the same rating as a Carolina Reaper. You
might have some give two very strong peppers the same rating, but then you
might just need more people to test it.

In any case, the practical utility of the scale is mostly to get an idea of
how spicy something is, it doesn't really matter much if something is 700K or
600K, it's enough to know that it's around 2x as strong as a Habanero.

~~~
guitarbill
Isn't there going to be a huge sampling bias? I certainly refuse to eat
Carolina Reaper, and can't be the only one.

~~~
nullc
No, the Scoville test is based on a comparison of diluted samples. Trials are
rerun with increasing dilution until the testers cannot detect the sample, and
the level of dilution determines the score.

------
johnbrodie
As someone who enjoys a good hot sauce or pepper, I was interested in this
article. Have I done damage to myself by eating 5 million+ scoville sauces?

Unfortunately, this article is almost completely devoid of real information,
and doesn't answer the question at all.

~~~
blhack
What sauces exist that at 5M+? If you're talking about pure capsaicin extract
that you have added to your own food (essentially making your food into a
sauce), then you aren't eating anything that is 5M SHUs, since that is not how
the scale works.

~~~
spotman
Some of the Blairs brand of hot sauces claim up to 16 million on the scoville
scale. I have tried the 4am sauce which claims 4M on the scoville scale, and
it was not a laughing matter immediately, more crying, then laughing days
later. (I love this stuff though, and would do it again!)

Having said that the stuff in the millions is pretty darn hard to find, they
don't stock it or even sell it regularly.

Info:
[http://www.ushotstuff.com/hotSauceHeatScale.htm](http://www.ushotstuff.com/hotSauceHeatScale.htm)

------
JonnieCache
The resturant they're talking about is Burger Off, in Hove. They famously make
you sign a disclaimer before you eat the burger. I've seen several people
attempt it, and they've all regretted the decision.

Brighton also has an annual chilli festival. There's a chilli eating
competition, and paramedics are often needed by the losers, sometimes the
winners.

It's a bit stupid really, a bit like the teenage-boyish pursuit of
unnecessarily strong marijuana, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

------
SEJeff
Short answer: yes Longer answer: yes, and it can wreck you

[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-
pepper-p...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/18/ghost-pepper-puts-
hole-mans-esophagus/92350120/)

~~~
blockoperation
But does that really count? Eating superhot peppers won't necessarily make you
vomit, let alone make you vomit enough to rip your oesophagus (which is
incredibly rare, even in the most intense bouts of vomiting).

FWIW, I grow these things, and have foolishly tried eating them raw a few
times, and while I really wouldn't recommend it (the pain is indescribable,
both in your mouth and in your stomach, and if you forget to wear gloves when
handling them, many other places too), there's nothing particularly dangerous
about it.

~~~
SEJeff
I'm a "food enthusiast" and have had raw + cooked ghost and scorpion peppers.
Somewhere on YouTube there is a video of me making a proper ass of myself
while crushing a scorpion/ghost/habanero hit wing challenge at Jake Melnicks
in Chicago. I'm not ever gonna try the Carolina reapers as I don't see the
point, but know they will rip you up pretty good. I always eat starchy or
carby food before eating super spicy stuff and know it is genuinely no joke.
It wouldn't be hard to get an ulcer or worse from some of those peppers.

------
Noseshine
Anecdote allowed?

This reminds me of the Habanero Burger at "The Swinging Door" pub (I'm not
sure it had the same name when I went there occasionally over 10 years ago,
the first time actually almost 20 years ago in 1997) in San Mateo, CA [0].
(EDIT: It was the Prince of Wales pub previously! Lots of Habanero Burger
stories: [1])

They had a "Wall of Flame" with stickers from all people who "survived" eating
one. You had to sign a release form before you got your burger (shown in [1]).
As another ex-colleague of mine used to say: Good spicy food hurts _twice_...

I only ever ate one tiny piece off a colleague's plate. Initially I thought "I
feel nothing, what's the big deal?" I then spent a good part of the next half
hour with my tongue hung out under flowing water from the faucet in the
bathroom.

The people I saw try it either ate very fast, to be finished before the full
pain set in, or very, very slowly. Except for an Indian friend of mine, who
seemed pretty unmoved and ate the whole burger normally.

By the way, I don't remember the day of the week, but I always went there when
the "Silicon Gulch Jazz Band" was playing [2][3]. Back then the (good) singer,
an old guy (like all others in that band), played a washboard, really cool.
The music was really good (the singing too) :-)

[0] [http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-
xxx/](http://theswingindoor.com/habanero-burger-xxx/)

[1] [https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-
mateo](https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-of-wales-pub-san-mateo)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOPl4BXqD8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOPl4BXqD8)

[3] [http://www.sgjazz.com/](http://www.sgjazz.com/)

~~~
Raphmedia
> my tongue hung out under flowing water from the faucet in the bathroom.

Oh god. Capsaicin is not water soluble. You just removed everything from your
tongue BUT the capsaicin.

~~~
avar
I wonder if I'm the only one who finds water helps a bit. I know it's not
water soluble, but it has the effect of evenly distributing the burn around my
mouth, which feels better to me.

For some reason I'm a lot more bothered by extremely localized pain than
evenly distributed pain, when you chew a pepper you tend to e.g.
disproportionately burn on one side of your tongue. Drinking some water and
swishing it around in your mouth solves that problem.

~~~
Raphmedia
I've heard water can break down the capsaicin into smaller parts. Could be
what's happening here.

------
jjawssd
Fresh off the branch ghost peppers can cause terrible tissue damage for days
similar to taking a shot of 192 proof alcohol except ghost peppers can have an
incredibly deep and rich flavor for a few seconds before the burn becomes
overwhelming.

[http://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-
rektyfikowany-1...](http://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-
rektyfikowany-192-proof-750ml/)

The stuff sold in stores diluted in vinegar simply can not compare to freshly
grown ghost peppers. There really is an upper bound which humans can not
safely handle physically. For freshly grown peppers this might just be several
cubic millimeters of pepper.

------
blhack
By the way, if anybody is interested in some REALLY crazy heat, check this
out:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resiniferatoxin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resiniferatoxin)

------
steanne
[http://www.jem-
journal.com/article/S0736-4679(16)30256-6/abs...](http://www.jem-
journal.com/article/S0736-4679\(16\)30256-6/abstract)

------
26
In Cambodia we have these "bird's eye chilis" [1] and they're included in many
dishes. How do these compare to some of the other chili peppers and sauces
discussed here? I do have a high tolerance for heat (it's no problem to eat
20-30 of these in a dish, or eat them raw) but I'm not sure I could
characterize their taste in any meaningful way.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili)

~~~
Maxious
Thankfully a wikipedia editor has categorised the various articles based on
the scale mentioned in the article
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Capsicum_pepper...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale#Capsicum_peppers)

ie. bird's eye chilis 100,000–225,000 SHU vs ghost pepper 1,041,427 SHU

------
zwieback
Reviewing video games while eating hot peppers:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTMIgyUZDDk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTMIgyUZDDk)

------
byuu
At least on Chrome, bbc.com is hijacking middle-clicks and opening them in the
same window. Who there thought that was a good idea?!

That's the first time I've seen that one. If you're a web designer, _please_
do not do that.

~~~
teh_klev
It's done that for years. The BBC UK news site is the same, hugely
infuriating.

------
3stripe
Some of the videos I've seen on YouTube look pretty darn painful.

------
tim333
I seems you can hurt yourself - XXX Hot Chilli Burger of Hove has sent 5
people to hospital with it's 9.2 million Scoville burger.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577255/XXX-Hot-
Chil...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577255/XXX-Hot-Chilli-
Burger-fiery-FIVE-people-hospital-diners-sign-waiver-theyre-allowed-order-
one.html)

------
teekert
_But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem
to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have
observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in
young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says.
Setting the neurons off repeatedly wears them out, and they don’t grow back._

Pff had to almost read to the end for that.

------
dharma1
You can pop as many as you like if you're a bird -
[https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat...](https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_birds_adapt_to_eat_hot_peppers2)

~~~
dmichulke
Unfortunately, no bird will ever read this.

------
a1a
"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headline...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headlines)

------
anc84
tl;dr: Nothing long-term, but pain neurons might die off by prolonged/repeated
exposure based on animal tests.

~~~
mike_hock
Meaning your tolerance doesn't wear off, and you only become more bad ass the
more you keep eating close to your tolerance level.

