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Manish Swarup / AP file
"Ghost chili" peppers, pictured here at Changpool in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, were recently named the spiciest chili in the world by Guinness World Records
By Katharine Gammon
Life's Little Mysteries
In a contest that matches humans against some of the world's hottest chili peppers, no one wins. Recently, restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, held a competition to eat the extra-hot Kismot Killer curry. Some of the competitive eaters were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting.
According to reports, two British Red Cross workers overseeing the event at the Kismot Indian restaurant in Edinburgh but became overwhelmed by the number of casualties and ambulances were called. Half of the 20 people who took part in the challenge dropped out after witnessing the first diners vomiting, collapsing, sweating and panting.
So what exactly are the health impacts of eating really hot chili peppers? Can eating too much of the spicy stuff kill you?
To answer this question, Life's Little Mysteries turned to one of the experts: Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute, was responsible for finding the world's hottest chili pepper, the Bhut Jolokia.
Bosland says that chili peppers (or as some call them, chile peppers) can indeed cause death — but most people's bodies would falter long before they reached that point. "Theoretically, one could eat enough really hot chiles to kill you," he says. "A research study in 1980 calculated that three pounds of extreme chilies in powder form — of something like the Bhut Jolokia — eaten all at once could kill a 150-pound person."
This scenario wouldn't likely have a chance to play out. "However, one's body would react sooner and not allow it to happen," Bosland said. "One would have to eat it all in one sitting," he says. Taken over the course of a year, those three pounds of chilies wouldn't be harmful.
Chili peppers cause the eater's insides to rev up, which can come with some problems. They activate sympathetic nervous system — which helps control most of the body's internal organs — to expend more energy, so the body burns more calories when the same food is eaten with chili peppers. "Eating chili is associated with increases in metabolic rate and thermogenesis," says John Prescott, a professor at Sussex University and editor of the journal Food Quality and Preference. "Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili, does cause tissue inflammation so the mucosa of the stomach or intestines might be damaged by a sufficiently large dose."
Tissue inflammation could explain why the contestants in the Killer Curry contest said they felt like chainsaws were ripping through their insides. Too much of the spicy stuff can also give you a good case of heartburn.
When it comes to spicy, enough of the hot stuff can cause damage — so eat carefully out there!
Related:
- 10 Weird Things People Do Every Day (and Why)
- Is It Safe to Hold in a Sneeze?
- Why Does Your Nose Run When You Eat Spicy Food?
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Leave a Comment:
Pain is nature's way of saying you're doing something stupid.
perhaps, but the 'spicy high' that comes from eating super spicy foods is almost addictive. as you get older, your body changes a bit and you learn the after effects aren't worth the short term high you get. I remember just sitting and eating the hottest food we could find until you were sweating and eyes watering and all that jazz. It is a great feeling.
We used to eat habañero sandwiches with mayonnaise and olive oil on crunchy Italian bread. Mmmmmmm! Eyes watered immediately so you couldn't see, but washed down with beer, nothing better! I didn't think there was anything hotter than the habañero.
Like giving birth?
after eating thai food every day with someone who loves the hotstuff,the hotstuff here suddenly loss it's punch.
Palin is natures example of something stupid.
Oh, wrong thread... But no less true.
@celnav: funny, I say the same thing about Obama voters...
You'd think a food-related article would be safe from the politicos. Guess not... Is nothing sacred?
I had Thai soup once that caused me to lose my hearing for a half hour. Pretty scary stuff.
Peppers are good for the digestive system.
I have eaten peppers and Tabasco sauce for years.
And I attribute to the fact that I rarely ever get sick or catch cold.
It can be hot going in, and hot going out but,
any food is bland to me without it.
You know, nature created these super hot peppers as a defense mechanism so animals don't eat them I assume. I guess humans are too stupid.
you are obviously missed the next science coarse. Other animals adapt to other plants/animals defenses. Some animals can eat other toxic animals and plants and even take on some of the poison. Very hot peppers may be bad for some in excess. However their are startling benefits like the ability to fight cancer cells and boost your metabolism.
Birds are actually remarkably insensitive to capsacin. They'll happily eat peppers that no one else would touch, for the sole reason that the seeds need to be scattered properly and the best way to do that is birds. You can add something like chilli powder to birdseed to discourage animals like squirrels from your feeders and the birds won't even notice.
It is a way to keep the seeds going where they should, but it doesn't mean we can't eat them. If people enjoy spicy food (and I certainly do, Buffalo wings anyone?) then it isn't a problem.
@ DemonGraveWolf, so far, that was the only USEFUL post in this thread, my own included. THANK YOU! I have three parrots and I've noticed their "immunity" to hot peppers too.
You assume incorrectly. Chilis are fruit - they are meant to be eaten, so that the seeds will be spread.
My son in law makes a salsa out of my garden that makes your mouth burn for ten minutes afterward. But its really good! its not any exotic pepper, its just jalapenos and habaneros, but its spicy! I guess if you can eat it, go ahead. If you can't eat it, because its too hot, don't eat it.
I always think Edinburgh when I think spicy food.
How odd, I think of Madras, Singapore, Mexico not Edinburgh.
However I will also admit the a UK curry is one of the best in the world.
I have been traveling since 1966 and am a bit of a foodie
Jack,
As well you should. One of the yummiest curries I ever had(and I love Indian cuisine) was in Portree while on tour of my forebearers' homeland. Scotland has vibrant South Asian communities which provide a nice alternative to the diet of tea and oatmeal my great-grandparents noshed on 3 times a day. They couldn't afford haggis, which ain't half bad, but doesn't trump curry.
You should think New Mexico-- all of our food has Red and Green chile on it. I eat it every single day in one form or another. I hate ordering pizza from other states. Ask for green chile and you get either jalapenos or green peppers. Neither is green chile, punks! I want to burn...
BTW... one of the best dishes you can get here is called Chile Relleno. It's a green chile stuffed with jack cheese and other fixings, breaded and deep fried, then smothered with even more green chile (or red, if you prefer). Delicioso!
And if you want hot salsa-- eat Sadie's.
I lived for a year in Edinburgh and I've spent about as much time (in two week increments) in Las Cruces. I love Indian food second to none, but I have to say that New Mexico takes the prize for spiciest.
Intelligence vs insanity.
If you eat to the point of extreme pain, there will be some consequences.
It may really burn going down, but the spastic colitis and burn on exit can be a more excruciating experience yet to come!
So, just dial it back so it's enjoyable, not debilitating. Let the masochists have their moment of pain, sit back and laugh at them...
I love hot peppers and have a higher than average tolerance for them, but people should tone it down if they start feeling ill instead of putting more and more in their bodies. Like everything else in life, moderation is the key.
I wouldn't be able to finish that much spicy curry...
I could care less if Spicy food will kill me, isn't stopping me from doing it. Love it way too much (hugs his Blair's 3am reserve).
"I could care less if Spicy food will kill me" How much less would thee care? Merely curious and I admit to being a nosy chap/bloke/dude/Disgruntled Old Shanty-dwelling Coot. Since caring less is such a subjective thing use any measuring method that works for you. Perhaps a 1-10 scale with 1 representing a HUGE amount of not caring and 10 just a wee minute amount.
Personally, my liver quivers with unadulterated delight with spicy but not excessively spicy vittles. I do not long/yearn/drool for BURNING spicy grub (not those wiggly worm things in the shanty's lawn).
Here atop the Ozark Plateau amidst within a HUGE horde of mentally sub-par emotion-laden non-rational semi- to non-educated barbarians I have noticed a few of those too-often felonious folks declaring paprika as being too spicy!!!!
Fly-over country has many residents shunning spic and local vittle offerers tend to tone down their fare.
Have a great day fellow human herd members.
BMurphy, with you on the 3 a.m. I've collected a little over 200 bottles and many of them are Blair. The rush after the pain, and the lava feeling in your head is VERY appealing. Have you seen the Halloween Reserve yet?
Hell, when I was in the military my wife bought me a Tabasco leather belt holster to take with me.
Before they got wise and started putting the little bottles in MRE's that was the only way to travel.
Have you ANY idea how bad chow hall food or MRE's are like without Tabasco?
and tabasco is not spicy
Tabasco is cayanne peppers and vinegar, to me that is pretty spicy.
Although I have had hotter pepper sauces, I love Tabasco the best.
I am very fond of hot food but there is a limit. A little ground Cayenne is great on a lot of foods. Jalapenos are too. I also agree with Viewer_Ready that peppers are good for digestive tract and can help fight infections. But don't eat them just for the heat. If you can't taste everything else then you are using too much.
Or, you're not using proper ingredients to balance out the heat. I sautee chicken in pomegranate molasses to provide an extreme 'burst' of flavor through the heat of my curry. My blair's 3am registers at 2 mil schoville and the flavor from that stuff cuts right through the heat. It's freekin delicious.
2,000,000!? Holy cow! ...and I still haven't had the opportunity to try an habenero...
For those who don't want to bother looking up the spiciness scale, bell peppers are zero (no spice), jalepenos and tabasco sauce are about 5,000, habeneros are about 100,000-350,000, bhut jolokia (the "ghost pepper is a variety of this) are 1,000,000, pepper spray is 5,000,000, and pure capsaicin is 15,000,000.
Perhaps I should get my mouth on some authentic Thai as a teaser...
Some very powerful stuff.
@ Bill Colvin/Crump: It is very powerful, though, Blair's does make even more ludicrous heat 'additives'. I cook with it, it's not something that I nonchalantly 'dip' things into. Best way is to take 2 cans of coconut milk, 2 tablespoons of some curry powder and set them to simmer on the stove, reduce the mixture for a little while then take a knife and dip it into the Blairs, as far down as you're willing to go heh. Then mix that in with the curry/coconut milk mixture. The milk, as with all dairy is oil-based, so it helps pull away some of the fire in your mouth heh.
But yeah, Blairs makes a 10 million Schoville 'additive', and they also make pure capsaicin crystals @ $250 a bottle. Supposedly so hot that it takes 250,000 gallons of water to dilute the heat completely hah.
Eat in moderation. I love the taste of different hot peppers with different foods, but I don't like to be hot and sweaty from eating them. Cayenne, Jalapeno and habanero are hot enough for me. Different peppers for different dishes.
I like spicy food but in a moderate way. Food is too bland if I do not add some nice Asian sauces, a little pepper, chili etc...and it is also good for the health, it is anti-bacterial. However, I find those contests where people swallow as much food or drinks as possible in order to win, completely idiotic and dangerous. Some ended up dead. Those contests should be banned. Hot chillies are dangerous if eaten in large quantities.
Pooo. There is a potential problem with the air we breathe. LOL, dying of eating hot foods? Your tongue should be reliable enough to provide feedback if a food is too hot. If you die from hot foods, it's just part of the evolutionary process.
This is a stupid article. I'm sorry I took the time to respond.
"I'm sorry I took the time to respond." No boo-boo lips!!!! Thine comment is as relevant as any other and I am pleased ye took the time to comment. I am not the huggy-wuggy type of Disgruntled Old Coot huddled within a shanty, jobless, unable to afford adequate medical care and facing a bleak future and will likely end up seeking sustenance via dumpster diving but I endeavor mightily to find a bright side within the depraved elite- and corporate-owned and operated society we are immersed within and am grateful I can stumble/limp/crawl into the Taco Bell-place and grab a few free packets of various hot sauce types to add to whatever vittles i can reach in the dumpsters possessing adequate exterior welded-on protrusions allowing me to clamber upwards and use a stick with a sharp-pointed nail attached to poke and prod and am able to withdraw to my clutching withered hand to obtain, hopefully, enough nutrition to fend off starvation for yet another day.
Just remember to obey our elite class masters and our beloved corporate systems for they alone make the USA Number One!!!!!
Obey our rulers is the path to happiness.
Of course I will vote for his holiness Cain.
There I was : driving down the interstate at a high rate gobbling down a big jug of habaneros when all of a sudden, I involuntarily belched and my steering wheel bust into flames. My eyes began to water as I lunged backward to avoid the flames now engulfing my hawaiian bowling shirt. I lunged backward in excrutiating pain and did a double-back-flip into the cargo area causing my SUV to veer into the commuter lane which alerted the police and started a persuit. since there was no one driving the car they felt obligated to ticket me. My vehicle swerved from left to right and caused a 300 car pile-up with my vehicle being broadsided by a busload of pepper pickers.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel so sad for white people
I like 'em so much I put 'em on my cheerios in the morning.
Hot-good.
Bland-bad.
Who cares,no one lives forever here!
You have to train your stomach, people.
The point is to ENJOY the flavor....NOT to inflict pain.
If your mouth burns 10-15 minutes after a meal, you ain't ready!
If the heat wears off DURING your meal, you are WELL TRAINED....and ready to experiment further.
Remember, the point is to enjoy and SAVOR the flavor of the spice!
Believe it or not, a stomach used to hot foods, in moderation of course, is less likely to suffer from ulcers!
For all the rookies out there, try drinking a glass of milk FIRST.
NEVER use water to douse the "flame"!
It only spreads the pepper's oils all over your mouth and throat....because oil and water do not mix!
Try ice cream too.
Bon Appetit'!
It's not actually burning, or heat related in any way, Capsaicin is literally microscopic 'barbed hooks' that latch into the sensitive parts of your tongue, soft-pallet etc... and give the sensation of heat.
Is that how a hooked sea kitten feels? Is PETA correct? Sniff. I feel so bad now.
I grow these peppers, and no obama you can't have them.. Stupid liberals always trying to take things away from people. They are nothing more then THIEVES.
Where can I get seeds?
My grandfather on my dads side of the family died of lung cancer from working for "King Chili" a chilli manufacturer. My God father/Uncle my Dads brother died at 47 years old who ate Chili on everything. My own father died at 67 with stomach damage. anybody who says you have to train your stomach to get used to chili is a fool. My mother is a nutricianist and she was happy to tell me pound for pound chili is the highest in vitamin C, I was told the Acerola Cherry was the highest. Now I informed my mom, it would be hard to eat 1 pound of chili, now you can eat 1 pound of acerola cherrys! Chili is an irritant! Yes, a serious irritant to the stomach! research has shown all the Latin American & asian Chili eating people have had a impact of Chili actually stunting their growth! Think about it, China, Thailand, India, Peru, Mexico,Japan, etc have short people in General, No disrespect to them, Facts are facts and they are in!.
Yet people in southeast Asia and South America where they eat chilis by the bucketfull every year routinely outlive those of us in the U.S. Your limited sample size on chilis causing damage to a persons' life span is false, they do not cause shorter life spans in any way, shape, or form.
Where do you get your information? The only country in either southeast Asia or South America with a life expectancy higher than that of the U.S. is Singapore.
I'm not suggesting that life expectancy has anything to do with whether or not one consumes hot peppers; I'm just disputing your basic premise.
Use the World Health Organization Life Expectancy rates and then calculate the life span excluding the cases of infant mortality. Most countries in SE Asia have infant mortalities (deaths under 1 year old) that range from 3-15 times that of the U.S. and that drastically affects the average life expectancy rates. Taking out the infants that die due to inadequate medical care gives a more realistic life expectancy rate.
P.S Chili given to lab Rats, all got cancer! Another fun fact!
This really is a pointless article, no one has ever eaten enough chile peppers or any hot food to kill them as far as I know.
Just another article, that strives to force feed you so called expert opinion when they have no buisiness even talking about it.
They should be more worried about man made drugs and their ill effects, but no.. Lets focus on a healthy food and talk about how three pounds can kill you..
NO ONE EATS THREE POUNDS OF ANY SERIOUSLY HOT PEPPER, not even in a week
If there isn't snot dripping from my nose within the first couple of bites, it's not hot enough.
And, yeah, you probably don't want to sit across the table from me while I'm eating it, or sleep with me after.
Super hot chili is better than freakin coca*
Maybe. Can eating too much bland food kill you?