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Why do some humans love chili peppers?

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Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?

#71

Post by wil421 »

TheFattestNinja wrote: post #55

I didn't know this was a thing until I met my partner, who has it (and so does her mother), but there is a couple conditions called fissured tongue and geographic tongue ( ex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissured_tongue ) which effectively means that her tongue is a lot more sensitive to salt/pepper/spicy than average. To the point where black/white pepper alone might give the same intensity chilli gives to a "norm…

> The prevalence of the condition increases significantly with age, occurring in 40% of the population after the age of 40.

Yikes! I love chilis and peppers. Couldnt imagine having this condition although my wife and kids may appreciate less spicy food.

Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?

#72

Post by [deleted] »

rob74 wrote: post #49
beautifulfreak wrote: post #29

I thought the author would revisit the 90s discovery of "supertasters," people who have a heightened sense of taste. (People who like hot peppers usually have a diminished taste sensitivity and are not supertasters.) https://apnews.com/article/ee0a2d08c57a937913c86f53541d0e80 https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/accounting-for-taste/

Not convinced about that - first, spiciness is not a taste, because it affects the heat/pain receptors on your tongue rather than the taste buds. Of course, the sensitivity for spiciness varies a lot between individuals, and maybe it correlates with the sensitivity for taste. Second, it might be the other way around: people with diminished taste sensitivity appreciate spicy food because it adds some variety for them,…

[deleted]

Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?

#75

Post by 2Gkashmiri »

evnix wrote: post #2

shouldn't it be most humans? China and India and most of asia have chilli peppers and so does africa. It is the minority that cannot tolerate chillies. prior to chillies, black pepper, ginger and garlic was used and if used in appropriate quantities gives you a similar result. chillies are just a lot more economical to grow.

I live in the Indian subcontinent. As long as I can remember, I have HIGHLY DISLIKED eating spicy food to a point when my sibling and I were kids, there used to be 2 dishes for lunch/dinner, one for the adults and one for kids. This is VERY unusual in our culture because kids are, out of this "practice of cooking 2 dishes" that parents train their kids to "eat chilli" from when they are very young. They are "trained" from a young age.

I probably had that done to me and they realized, "ah shucks. Let it be" and here I am today.

I take milk with my dinner when the food is spicy because that has always helped me.

The problem is, I am often ridiculed for not ensuring the spice of red chilli.

The day before, my parents "challenged" me to eat dinner without chilli for a month because according to them, "our body wants chilli". Mine doesn't.

edit: just to clarify, our spice cabinet in our home is an absolute monster, we have dozens of common and exotic spices which we use "on a daily basis" so even highly spicy food isn't the problem for me. "red chilli" in particular is troubling.

Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?

#76

Post by Avshalom »

TheFattestNinja wrote: post #55

I didn't know this was a thing until I met my partner, who has it (and so does her mother), but there is a couple conditions called fissured tongue and geographic tongue ( ex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissured_tongue ) which effectively means that her tongue is a lot more sensitive to salt/pepper/spicy than average. To the point where black/white pepper alone might give the same intensity chilli gives to a "norm…

I dunno, i have fissured tongue (10-20% more visually dramatic than the Wikipedia headline photo) and i have the far and away the highest tolerance (for garlic/pepper/chile) of any of my family.

Might just be a coincidence with your partner.

Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?

#77

Post by stared »

Well, at least for me, it is simple: a controlled pain sensation, in low quantities, giving a sense of excitement (even thinking about it gives me a tingling sensation and makes my mouth full of saliva), in higher - followed by a flood of endorphins. It is essentially getting high on locally-produced painkillers.

From anecdata, chili-loving is strongly correlated with sensation seeking, or rather: the balance between pleasure-seeking and pain-avoidance.

Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?

#80

Post by viciousvoxel »

TheFattestNinja wrote: post #55

I didn't know this was a thing until I met my partner, who has it (and so does her mother), but there is a couple conditions called fissured tongue and geographic tongue ( ex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissured_tongue ) which effectively means that her tongue is a lot more sensitive to salt/pepper/spicy than average. To the point where black/white pepper alone might give the same intensity chilli gives to a "norm…

I have a highly fissured tongue but still enjoy spicy foods. I think I'm a bit more sensitive to salt than most though. Go figure.
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