Their songs are nice(?
Why do some humans love chili peppers?
111–120 of 184 posts
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#112Because they hurt so good.
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
diarrhea and irritation of anus/emorrhoids
I've never encountered this problem in real life, only on online forums, so I don't have any firsthand experience. Maybe if you just eat spicy food every day you'll eventually get used to it and not have that problem? I've eaten (what some may describe as) spicy food for probably more than 90% of the meals in my life and it doesn't bother me.
Maybe some people don't entirely digest/neutralize the capsaicin before it passes through the body. I've also never really had this issue except one time some years ago when I ate half a fresh raw carolina reaper as a dumb drunk thing, which I assume has loads more capsaicin in it than what I normally ingest from spicy food.
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#114Well, 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…
Do people really feel a flood of endorphins? Growing up in a culture full of chili, I've had to endure my fair share of extra spicy food and never enjoyed it. It leaves me with nothing but a nasty burn in my mouth and an inability to taste anything for some time.
> Do people really feel a flood of endorphins?
Yes.
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#115Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve gotten to a point where I prefer to drink a hot spicy soup in a cup over many things. If I drink coffee, it also always burning hot with a solid mix of cream, sugar and cinnamon. One of the things it helps me achieve is a small warmth that also helps me sleep. I don’t even resort to hot sauce for the broths anymore, just cutting up one or two small chili peppers makes the soup hotter. The soups are becoming a re…
Drinking regularly drinks that are too hot significantly increases the risk of throat cancer. I can't find the paper anymore that I read few years ago, but they did check various cultures where drinking very hot tea is traditional, controlled for other factors and the results were not nice. IIRC the threshold where risk became significantly higher was around 70-75 degrees celzius. I mean think about it - around 60 de…
Biochemist who went to med school: very hot beverages will indeed cause tissue damage, and can cause oral cancer.
Though English uses the same word to describe both (“hot”), there is no relationship between “spicy” food and high temperature stuff, apart from the fact that they both stimulate pain receptors (but in very different ways, one being harmful and the other being harmless).
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#117These two papers give a much better answer than this blog: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138904172... (why do humans increase their chili consumption) and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8042654/ (antibacterial + disease-alleviating properties of capsaicin). Besides the fact that capsaicin has antibacterial effects and exerts indirect disease-alleviating effects during bacterial infe…
> eating chili triggers an endorphin high, but regularly eating chili makes you less sensitive and hence you have to eat more chili to get your little high I wonder what is the evolutionary reason for that. The older you are, the more defense you needed against bacteria?
The desensitization to hot peppers happens at a much smaller scale than years, so it doesn’t have much to do with your age.
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#118I 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 geographic tongue but thankfully it's not affected by spices. However, I can only use "regular" flavor toothpaste and "cinnamon" gum will send me to a world of pain and anguish. I wonder if and why different irritants affect different people differently.
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Drinking regularly drinks that are too hot significantly increases the risk of throat cancer. I can't find the paper anymore that I read few years ago, but they did check various cultures where drinking very hot tea is traditional, controlled for other factors and the results were not nice. IIRC the threshold where risk became significantly higher was around 70-75 degrees celzius. I mean think about it - around 60 de…
Biochemist who went to med school: very hot beverages will indeed cause tissue damage, and can cause oral cancer. Though English uses the same word to describe both (“hot”), there is no relationship between “spicy” food and high temperature stuff, apart from the fact that they both stimulate pain receptors (but in very different ways, one being harmful and the other being harmless).
Why does tissue damage increase the risk of cancer? My guess is that more damage -> more cells created to replace damaged ones -> more opportunities for mutation. Is that right? If you bite the inside of your lip a lot, is that bad? Uh, asking for a friend.
Re: Why do some humans love chili peppers?
#120I 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.
Yup, seeds out, and optimally the soft white interior membranes too.