Science Of Spiciness: How Does Spicy Food Affect Our Body?

When we eat something spicy, suddenly our mouth feels like it' on fire, we start sweating and even our nose starts running.
But why is that?

What happens in our body when we eat spicy food, and how does it affect us?

What is spiciness?

"Spiciness" is actually not a real taste like sweet, sour, salty or bitter. But still, we can definitely tell when something tastes spicy.
When we eat something spicy, the compounds activate neurons called "Polymodal Nociceptors".
These sensory neurons can be found almost everywhere on your body - and in your mouth and nose as well.

Why do we react to spiciness the way we do?

What's interesting about them is that they're actually the same receptors that get activated by heat.
So when we eat something spicy, our brain receives the same signal as if our mouth was in contact with high heat - that's why we feel our mouth burning, and also why the word "hot" is a synonym for "spicy".
And our body really reacts as if it was exposed to a threat, and triggers a fight-or-flight reaction.
That means: your heart beats faster, and you start to sweat!

Fun Fact: The reverse effect actually happens when we eat something that contains menthol. Our body is tricked into thinking we just ate something cool, which is why we can feel the cooling effect in our mouth.

Are there differences in spicy foods?

But there isn't just one kind of spiciness. Pepper, Mustard, Chili, Wasabi, Horseradish or Curry are all spicy, but certainly not similar.
And that's also why we might experience spiciness in a different way - sometimes more like a burning in our mouth, or an irritation in our nose.
That's because different foods have different compounds that make them spicy.
Black Pepper and Chilli are made up of molecules that are called "Alkylamides" - they are large and heavy.
Wasabi, Mustard and Horseradish on the other hand contain much smaller molecules (Isothiocyanates).
While the heavy molecules of black pepper and chilli stay in your mouth and make your tongue feel like it's burning, the smaller ones contained in wasabi mustard and horseradish travel up into your sinuses and make your nose "burn".

How is spicyness measured?

Spicyness is ranked on the so-called Scoville Scale. This scale measures how much the capsaicin content (= the natural essence in spicy foods) can be watered down before the heat has gotten so weak that it's no longer detectable.

A normal bell paper is ranked with 0 Scolville heat units, while Tabasco has 1200-2400.
And what is the hottest pepper in the world?
That's a fight between 2 different types - the Carolina Reaper and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.
These are incredibly spicy - they have a ranking of 1.5 and 2 Million Scolville!

That's 50% of the spiciness of PEPPERSPRAY!

Why do we eat such spicy foods?

Researchers aren't entirely sure yet when, where or why humans started consuming spicy foods like peppers.
Historical evidence has shown that spicy mustard was found together with human remains in graves 23,000 years ago - but it's unsure whether these spices were used as food or medication.
Studies suggest that people started adding spices to their food to kill bacteria, and also that spices were mostly used in warm areas of the world where microbes often appear.
But why are we still eating spicy foods today?
That remains a mystery - some people enjoy spicy food because of the thrill that comes with it, similar to a rollercoaster.
And a preference for spicy food might actually be genetic!
What's interesting is also that people who eat spicy foods regularly don't feel less pain - they just developed a higher tolerance to it.

Images: Logo, 1, 2, 3, 4

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