August 4, 2026 • 32 mins
Does a fondness for spicy foods mean you've got an aggressive personality? Did putting spices on food help cavemen avoid illnesses? Is it true that super-spicy diets are linked to longevity? And what's the most effective way to soothe the heat if you bite off more than you can chew, tolerance-wise?
This episode originally aired on May 2, 2018.
Speaking of living longer, be sure to check out Mangesh's other show, Skyline Drive: How to Live Forever. All episodes are out now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what, Mango, what's that will? You're probably not going
to be surprised to hear this, but I think I'm
ready for another spice challenge. Oh really, yeah, I've been training.
I'm serious about this now, listeners. So you know, Mango
and I both love spicy foods. It almost took professional
help for me to break my unhealthy addiction to jalapino
kettle chips.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
This was a few years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Of course, I just traded it out for another habit,
and so now I eat at least a couple of
atomic fireballs every day.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
That's probably an understatement. Maybe there's four or five.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
But when it comes to eating spicy food, I always
think I'm a spice champ until I eat with Mango.
So we'll go to an Indian or a Seshuan place,
ord up a few dishes with some extra spice.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Our food comes.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Out, and that's when the sweating starts.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
It's so irritating because I love the spiciness, I honestly do.
But you'll be over there downing all this crazy spicy stuff,
even requesting these extra spice bombs like you do with
the Ramen place, and it doesn't seem to affect you
at all. Meanwhile, ten minutes in, I look like I've
just finished a marathon. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well, I mean I've told you it doesn't matter, right,
it's just as long as you enjoy the food.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, But the white staff always seems concerned, and you
just look at them. It's like you guys have this
secret unspoken language. You'll just not and with that simple nod,
it's as if you're saying, like, it's okay, he's fine,
he's just from Alabama, not India. And then they look
at you and they not as if to say, we
felt pretty safe and assuming he's not from India, But
are you sure he's okay? I mean, just look at
(01:26):
him over there. It's amazing this language that you guys have.
You look back as if to say, trust me, he's fine.
This happens every time. But if you have a couple
of bath towels, you know, one for his forehead and
one to soak up the pool on the floor, that
would be great.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well, I'm pretty sure that's all on your head. We
don't have any sort of secret language. By I do
have these cards printed up that say what you're about
to see is in pretty but don't panic.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well that's thoughtful of you, But either way, we both
love spicy food and the science of spicy food is
fascinating to both of us. So we had so many
questions going into this episode. How did humans evolve to
enjoy spicy food, what does it predict about our personalities
if we enjoy that spicy kick? And is there any
evidence that eating spicy foods could help us live longer?
(02:10):
So let's get started. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to
(02:38):
Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm
joined by my good friend Mangesh hot Ticket and on
the other side of the soundproof glass demonstrating just how
well he can take the heat, that's our friend and
producer Tristan McNeil. Now, I really do wish our listeners
could see this, because Tristan's assembled this spicy food fees
for the ages here.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I mean, look at this stuff that he's eating.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
He's got an order of drunken noodles, a Sishuan hot pot,
a bowl of five alarm chili, a pile of ghost
pepper chicken wings.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I mean, it's ridiculous, and he's just going to town
on all of it. This guy is a machine. I
honestly feel.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
He's just like showing off at this point. I feel
like you should have, like that cartoon steam coming out
of his ears, but he hasn't even broken a sweat.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is a little bit eerie.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well all right, Well, you know, while most people enjoy
adding at least a little spice to their meals, some
can definitely handle the heat better than others. So we'll
take a look at why that is a little bit
later in the show. But to kick things off, I
thought we should talk about what makes spicy foods taste
hot in the first place, or really, I should say,
what makes us think that spicy foods taste hot, Because,
as you might remember from one of our earlier episodes,
(03:42):
the one we did on the science of flavor, spicy
isn't really a taste at all. In reality, the burning
sensations we feel from spicy foods, those are the result
of our sense of touch, rather than from taste or smell.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, I remember him alst like some sort of chemical trickery, right,
Like it has something to do with how keapsasan interacts
with our touch receptors.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So cap Sacin of course, is the chemical and the
seeds and the tissue of the chili peppers that gives
them their heat. And you know, pepper plants actually evolve
capsationin as a protective measure, and this was to help them,
you know, protect them against animals and insects so they
can have a better shot at dispersing their seeds. So,
for instance, when humans and other mammals eat chili peppers,
we tend to make it so the seeds can't be
(04:23):
germinated later when we inevitably part ways with them and
we grind the seeds too much with our molars, or
else we destroy them completely in our harsh digestive tracks.
So as a deterrent to this, pepper plants started producing
a chemical that activates these special touch receptors, and they're
found all over the inner layer of our skin and
that includes our mouths.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
This receptor is called trip V one, and it's the
body's early warning system for hot temperatures.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So think about it.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
If you sit out in the sun too long and
your skin starts to burn a little, or when your
hand graises the hot stove and you know to pull
it away really quickly, that's trip v one at work.
And this is where the chemical trickery that you mentioned
comes in, because Capsacan actually works by lowering the energy
needed to activate those trip v one defenses. So while
these receptors would typically read any mouth temperature over one
(05:11):
hundred and nine degrees fahrenheit as a burn, once they
bonded with capsasan anything higher than ninety three degrees fahrenheit
registers as dangerously hot.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
So that's interesting. But I mean, the average mouth temperature
for humans is ninety eight point six. So capsason actually
makes these receptors think your whole mouth is burning.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, that's exactly what happens, and that's why it sometimes
feels like your entire mouth is on fire when you
eat something spicy, because you know, as far as your
brain knows, it actually is.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
So then if we have these touch receptors all over
our body and not just in our mouths, why don't
we feel like our skin is burning anytime we touch
a chili pepper?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well, remember we're talking about the inner layer of our
skin that has these receptors, so we can really only
feel the burn of a pepper's on areas where our
outer skin layer is thin enough for that capsasin to
get through. So the mouth is obviously one of the
places the eyes are an and that's why you're never
supposed to touch your eyes after you've been handling chili peppers.
And there are also a few other thin skin places
(06:07):
that we don't have to name here, but you can
probably use your imagination for these.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah. I actually remember reading this old Hungarian proverb about
how good paprika burns twice, so I think I know
what you're getting at.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I love how you always try to find a way
to use a Hungarian proverb, but I should mention that
it's not just capsation that triggers this false flag burning sensation.
You know. Research also shows that trippy one receptors also
respond to other quote unquote hot foods, including black pepper
and ginger. And there's also trip a one that's so
called was sabi receptor, and that's activated by a certain
(06:41):
oil that's found in foods like horse radish and mustards, onions, garlic, cinnamon,
and of course was sabi.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I like how, at first glass it seems like all
those plants have come up with this genius way of
making themselves unpalatable to mammals. But then when you think
about it, there's this one stubborn species that doesn't seem
to have gotten the memo, right, Humans, Like, we love
our spicy foods, and we even have contest just to
see how much heat we can stomach.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, it's weird that we do these things that cause pain,
or at least make us think that we're in pain.
Is pretty strange when you think about it. But there
was this one researcher. It was a professor of psychology.
His name was Paul Rosen. This was back in the
nineteen eighties, and he actually proved that there is a
connection between thrill seeking and eating spicy foods. So here's
how Rosen puts it. He says, humans, and only humans,
(07:29):
seem to get pleasure out of innately negative experiences when
they are aware that the body's signals are not really threatening.
There's a term for it. He calls it benign masochisms.
And it's the same inclination that makes it fun to
ride a roller coaster or watch a scary movie. I mean,
all these things provoke these real biological responses in our bodies.
But since we know at some level there's no real danger,
(07:52):
the end result is actually a pleasurable feeling rather than
this purely painful one.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
So I actually read up on where that pleasure stems from.
Was pretty surprising because it turns out while men and
women both enjoy spicy foods, the reason why they do
it are completely different. So for women, research shows that
they simply like the burning sting that spicy foods provide.
And since capsasin has been known to trigger the release
of endorphins, you know, maybe that's not so surprising, right,
(08:17):
it makes you feel good. But men, on the other hand,
tend to partake in spicy foods because they like the attention.
Brow We like attention, We love that spotlight. So there's
no denying that downing a whole plate of like hot wings,
you know it is going to get you some street
cred in some circles. And our culture actually views being
able to withstand spicy foods as a sin of strength
and the lust for that kind of like social glory
(08:39):
that seems to drive male spicy food fans more than
anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, that actually makes sense in light of a study
I was reading about from a few years ago. The
researchers at the University of Grenoble, and they got together
one hundred and fourteen men, and they brought them together
in a testing lab and had them sit down to
a meal of mashed potatoes and hot sauce.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I don't know why it was.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I don't know why it need to be mashed potatoes,
but actually I would do this, but how much hot
sauce was to be used was completely up to the participants. Now,
in the end, the men who used the most were
also the ones with the highest levels of testosterone. Not
only that, but those who had the spiciest palettes also
shared tendencies toward social dominance, aggression, and risk taking, all
(09:21):
of which have been linked already to high testosterone.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It's kind of crazy how much of a predictor is
someone's personality can be for whether or not they like
spicy foods. Right, Apparently, people who are into action movies
and really adventurous hobbies are six times more likely to
enjoy hot foods than those who prefer tamer pastimes.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Which is why I know you were not part of
this study, because I know you love spicy foods. But
if I think about all the movies you've recommended over
the years, the ones that had the most action in
them were probably I don't know, like Rushmore and AMAI
maybe have like the least action packed movies ever. So
I do love to read those descriptions of like aggression
(09:59):
and dominance and all that.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So there is something great about it. I worked in
this Italian restaurant where all the wait staff was Mexican,
and they were doing this thing where they got these
cucumbers and they put all the spice on it, and
they were calling the students over and one by one
giving them these cucumbers, and then and then everyone's mouth
was on fire. And then they called me over and
they were like watch, watch, watch, and they had anyone.
(10:21):
It's like it wasn't that spicy. It felt like a
super powerful. Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And I do wonder if it's always been that way,
Like is that how humans started eating spicy food to
begin with? You imagine like this prehistoric daredevil that came
along and decided to chew through that burn because he
liked the adrenaline boost.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Or I don't really know.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, I mean I was reading about this archaeological drig
from a few years ago where these researchers found evidence
that Europeans had been spicing up their food for way
longer than we once thought. Like, apparently they found the
remains of cooking pots from more than six thousand years
ago at three different dig sites, and this is in
northern Europe, and inside the pots they found the these
bits of plant residue, some of which looked a lot
(11:02):
like modern day garlic mustard seeds.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
So, I mean, but what makes you sure that they
were eating the seeds for the heat specifically.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Well, mustard seeds, like most spicy plants we've been talking about,
have next to no nutritional values, so they wouldn't have
been providing much energy on their own, but they definitely
would have added like a sharp bite to whatever else
was on the menu. And that's ultimately what researchers believe
we're dealing with here, the earliest known use of spices
and cooking.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That is pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you know, I always assume prehistoric humans had these
bland diets for the most part.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I don't know why. I'm just thinking about what was available.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So I just imagine like lots of cooked meat and
whatever edible plants that could scrounge up that might help
them just survive with that being the main goal. So
it is kind of fun to hear that they might
have been experimenting with different foods and adding flavor just
for flavor's sake.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, and I'm actually glad our ancestors were willing to
try new things, because that's likely why spicy foods taste
so good to us in the first place.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
What do you mean.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I thought we were in agreement that spiciness is more
of a mouthfeel and not a tape.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah. I mean, we explain why our bodies register certain
foods as hot, but those foods still carry their own
flavors too. I mean, think about what a chili pepper
tastes like. Right, It feels hot, but it tastes kind
of earthy or bitter, maybe even mildly fruity.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So you're saying we inherited a taste for those flavors
from like as far back as caveman.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, I mean, maybe not cavemen exactly, but these beneficial
traits are passed down both culturally and genetically, and that
includes our preferences for specific flavors.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
All right, But is liking the flavor of spicy foods
a beneficial trade? I mean you just said that most
spices have basically zero nutritional value though, right.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's true, but you've got to keep in mind that
spices have these anti microbial properties that can be very
useful for preventing food spoilage. So think about chilis and
other hot peppers. They can actually kill up to seventy
five percent of food born bacteria, and then spices like garlic,
onion or regano that can actually wipe out the full
hundred percent. So while today we mostly use spices to
(12:58):
enhance our foods flavor, any researchers actually think the original
reason for using spices was to kill that food borne
bacteria and fungi. And if that's the case, like the
people who ate those foods with antibacterial spices were likely
the healthiest ones in their communities. And not only would
these prehistoric chefs have passed on their cooking tips to
their offspring, they also would have likely passed along this
(13:19):
taste for spicy bacteria killing cuisine.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
H I think, I get it, And so from an
evolutionary perspective, it makes sense to have taste receptors that
are well tuned to spicy flavors because you know, ultimately
that would make us likely to seek out foods that
are protected against spoilage and I guess, in theory would
keep us alive longer.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Exactly, and making this connection between microbes and spices was
no easy task. A research team at Cornell only pulled
it off by scouring a mountain of data. And this
included nearly five thousand recipes from ninety three cookbooks, and
it represented the traditional meat based cuisines of I guess
thirty six countries. And in the end the researchers were
able to conclude that quote recipes are a record of
(13:59):
the history of the evily utiononary race between us and
our parasites. The micros are competing with us for the
same food. Everything we do with food, drying, cooking, smoking, salting,
or adding spices is an attempt to keep from being
poisoned by our microscopic competitors. They're constantly mutating and involving
to stay ahead of us. One way we reduce food
(14:19):
borne illnesses is to add another spice to the recipe.
Of course, that makes the food taste different, and the
people who learn to like the new taste are healthier
for it.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
All right, Well, speaking of health, I do want to
take a closer look at what spicy foods can and
can't do to our bodies, including whether they can actually
help us live longer. But before we crank up the heat,
let's cool off with a quick break. You're listening to
(14:52):
Part Time Genius and we're talking about the mouth watering
signs behind some of our favorite spicy foods. All right,
So a minute ago you were telling us about the
ability that's certain spices have to repel bacteria, and humans
aren't the only animal to reap that benefit. For example,
I was reading about a study where researchers at Virginia
Tech found that when chickens infected with salmonella eat a
capsation heavy diet, the germs within their internal organs are
(15:16):
reduced by half when you compare those two infected chickens
that just eat a normal diet.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
So, I mean, I've got to ask if you were
to eat the chili eating chickens, like, would they taste spicier?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You know, knowing how much I used to love the
spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's, don't you think I thought
about this? I spent a lot of time wondering this,
But I'm afraid the answer is no. And they actually
got a taste panel together to determine that the flavor
of the chilies did not make its way into the meat.
And by the way, can you imagine being on this
taste pan being served a plate of chicken that was
(15:48):
once riddled with salmonella? I feel like the lack of
spice would be the least of my worries in that one.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I know. Well, what's crazy to me is that those
chickens must have scarved down like a ton of chilies
to kill such a large percentage of bacteria, and yet
they didn't even feel the peppers heat one bit. And
this is something else I know we touched on in
our flavor episode. But the reason for the chickens immunity
is that the birds actually lack that trip V one
food receptor, and that actually makes them ideal customers for
(16:15):
chili peppers because birds digestive tracts are much easier on
seeds than those of mammals.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
All right, so chili peppers and birds have a pretty
good thing going with one another. But I do want
to be selfish and talk a little bit more about
what spicy foods can do for us mangos. So, you know,
because the compounds found in our go to spices actually
have medicinal properties that humans have relied on for centuries.
For instance, you've probably heard that some spices contain properties
(16:40):
that reduce inflammation, including turmeric, ginger, and garlic. And there
was even a study out of UCLA a few years
back where researchers use capsation to hinder the growth of
prostate cancer cells. And this was in mice and it
actually left their healthy cells intact. Not to be fair,
there isn't much evidence to suggest that eating chilis can
prevent you from getting cancer, but if nothing else, I mean,
(17:02):
the research gives some hope that peppers could help keep
the disease in checks sometime in the future.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Well, and there's another area where scientists hope to harness
this power of spice, and that's with pain management. So
we explained earlier how capsasin activates receptors that trigger that
familiar burning sensation in our mouths. But what we didn't
mention is that our ability to perceive that burn is
dead and the longer the chemical stays in your mouth.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So how does that work.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Well, there's this mysterious compound it's called a substance p
and that's involved in this pain perception, and it gets
released when the cap sasin activates our pain receptors. But
after a while, our body's supply gets depleted and the
brain stops receiving these pain signals altogether. So, of course,
capsasan's ability to drain substance pa and pain perception is
(17:48):
an exciting prospect for the medical community. In fact, it's
already been used in these topical creams to treat arthritis,
and there's actually hope that it can be applied to
anesthesia and painkillers at some point too.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
So this is a little off topic, but you mentioned
how capsaicin continues to burn for as long as it
stays in our mouths, and actually, I'm just curious is
there a way to get it out of there faster?
Because you always hear that milk is great for soothing
the burning mouth, but most of the time when I'm
eating something spicy, I don't have a glass of milk
text to me. But at least it's supposed to be
better than water, but I've never actually fact checked this.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, so definitely don't bother with water that just spreads
the cap season around your mouth without killing any of
its heat, and instead this is a case where the
rumors really are true, because milk can absolutely neutralize that
chili burn. And that's because dairy products and capsaicin both
contain non polar molecules which are capable of dissolving one another.
But that isn't milk's only trick, because it also contains
(18:43):
something called casin, and this protein is able to attract
capsason molecules to itself. So not only will milk or
ice cream neutralize the capsaicin molecules that happens to touch,
but it actually pulls any stragglers off of our trip
V one receptors and it dissolves those as well.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I'd always wondered whether that actually works, but that makes sense,
all right. Well, there's one more potential health benefit to
eating spicy foods that I want to talk about, and
that's the idea that doing so will actually help you
live longer. And believe it or not, there is some
research to back up this claim. Back in twenty fifteen,
there was an international team of researchers and they were
taking an in depth look at the connection between spicy
(19:22):
food consumption and longer lifespans, and what they found was
that eating spicy food at least once a day for
six or seven days a week can actually lower mortality
rates by fourteen percent when compared to eating spicy food
just once a week.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
So I love this idea of eating spicy food that
many times a week, But who actually eats that much
spicy food? I don't know who does well.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
The researchers were very smart about this because they focus
their study on Chinese people, who tend to eat way
more spicy dishes on average than most other cultures. And
on that front, the team had no shortage of volunteers.
They actually studied the diets of almost half a million
people in China.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Now all the participants were between the ages of thirty
and seventy nine. They all agreed to take part in
the study for a full seven years.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
That's kind of amazing. So what did the study consist
of exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Well, the participants were surveyed about how often they ate
spicy foods and which kinds of spices that they liked most,
and then the team followed up with them periodically to
see how their health was holding up and if there
were any major changes to their diets during the seven
year span of the study. More than twenty thousand of
these subjects died, But after factoring in things like smoking
and income and several other factors, the scientists found that
(20:33):
the daily chili eaters really did have a lower chance
of dying prematurely. And not only was the overall risk
of death lower for them, the mortality rate for specific
causes was too, and this included conditions like cancer and
certain forms of heart and respiratory disease as well.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
That's pretty incredible, but eating spicy foods every day is
probably too much for people who weren't raised on that
kind of diet. Was there any upside to like a
more modest spicy food diet?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Actually there was, I was curios about the same thing.
So the researchers found that those who ate spicy food
once or twice a week still had a mortality rate
ten percent lower than those of people who avoided spicy
food altogether. And while these are pretty modest numbers overall,
it's still impressive that a single type of food could
have that much of an effect on our risk of death.
(21:19):
But in fairness, the study never actually proved causation. I mean,
there could have been other factors beyond spicy food consumption
that would, you know, give participants a longer lifespan than others.
But you know, if you're a fan of spicy foods already,
i'd say upping your intake probably couldn't hurt.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Well, I'm glad you gave that little disclaimer, because one
thing I noticed while researching is that there's an awful
lot of misinformation out there about spicy foods. And you know,
the internet is chalk full of stories about how eating
too many jilipinos will give you an ulcer, or how
capsaicin can burn off your taste buds. So with that
in mind, I thought it might be fun to take
a look at some of these claims and see which
ones hold water and which ones are just hot air.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
All right, that sounds good, But before we get to it,
let's take another quick break. Okay, mango, So let's debunk
some fiery food myths.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Where do you want to start?
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Definitely, So let's go with one I already mentioned, which
is that spicy foods can cause ulcers and acid reflux.
And this one gets a lot of traction because plenty
of people report acid reflux or heartburn after eating chili
peppers or hot sauce, And for a long time, doctors
actually thought spicy foods were the main cause of ulcers
and the like. But now we know better because scientists
(22:38):
were able to identify the stomach bacteria that's actually responsible
for these conditions.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
All right, what about the people who get heartburn or
acid reflux after eating something spicy?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Are you saying that's just a coincidence or what?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
No? Definitely not so hot peppers can certainly aggravate these
kinds of pre existing conditions, but they actually can't cause them.
So someone who's been diagnosed with gourd, for instance, might
want to steer clear of chili's. But there's no truth
to the idea that eating too much spicy food will
bring on these conditions and people who don't already have them.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
All right, Well, what about this urban legend you sometimes
hear about people overdosing on hot sauce. I mean, it
sounds far fetched, but some folks really put this stuff
on everything, So the idea of using too much of it,
I mean, it does maybe seem plausible.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
So believe it or not, this one's actually true. So
capsaicin is a super deadly poison in its pure form,
which is why most hot sauces only contain trace amounts
of the substance, and still, if you consumed enough hot sauce,
it could definitely do some damage. For example, there was
this one study that concluded that a person of average
weight would have to ingest nearly half a gallon of
(23:42):
Tabasco sauce to overdose and pass out. So of course
it would take a lot more than that to actually
kill you, but it's totally possible in theory.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
You know, mango, you can actually die from drinking too
much water. I feel like maybe I should share this story.
But if you remember when we were in college, we
were sitting around on one of the quads and this
reporter came up and there had unfortunately been a death
from somebody who had, you know, had way too much
alcohol one night, and so obviously that's a very serious story.
But we were all just looking to sit around and
(24:11):
have a good time outside, and suddenly there was a
reporter wanting to ask us all these questions. And she
asked the question, did you know you can die from
drinking too much alcohol? I said, you can die from
drinking too much water. And so the very next day,
this one story the only time I was ever quoted
in the local newspaper was Will Pearson reports, you can
die from drinking too much water.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
So it is a fact.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
That was one of our first facts.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So having that much hot sauce in your bag maybe
isn't the greatest idea. And actually, you know, the gym
is another place where hot sauce won't do you any favors.
Speaking of other myths, I always heard that spicy foods
can help boost your metabolism. The idea there is that
when your body gets all hot and sweaty while eating
spicy foods, that it must be burning calories in the process,
(24:54):
you know, since that's what happens when you exercise. But
suddenly that's not the case with capsas. Studies have shown
that any increase in metabolic rate brought on by spicy
foods is statistically negligible. So, in other words, the thousand
calories you get from an over stuffed burrito, you can't
really undo that by just putting a lot of hot
sauce on it.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Well, since you just took a potential benefit of spicy
foods off the table, I'm going to even things out
and do the same thing with one of its potential harms.
So you've probably heard that rumor that too much spice
can do permanent harm to your taste buds. Yeah, and
I mean it doesn't sound too crazy on paper, right,
Like capsasan can lead to such an overwhelming mouth burn
that it can be tough to taste anything else for
a while, which might make you think that your taste
(25:35):
buds are well and truly busted.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
But the good news is.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
That cap sasan doesn't damage your taste buds tissue at all. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I was actually going to say, you know, much like hair,
taste buds are constantly being replaced, so the idea of
doing permanent damage to them it doesn't really make much sense.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, I mean, eating hot foods and I'm talking temperature here,
not spiciness can kill taste buds. But like you said,
those are replaced pretty often, so even that wouldn't be permanent.
And when it comes to capsation, there's really no risk
at all because, like we've been saying, the chemical interacts
with our heat sensing receptors, not our taste buds. So
even if your tongue feels numb after eating something spicy,
(26:12):
your taste buds are totally fine.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
All right.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, now that we've covered some things that spicy foods
can't do to your body, I do quickly want to
go over some of the things that actually they can do.
So for starters, spicy foods like curries, hot sauce, and
with sabi absolutely can make your nose run. And the
reason why comes down to the natural irritants those foods contain.
So in the case of chili peppers, that would be capsation. Now,
(26:35):
when the chemicals come in contact with your mucous membranes,
the membranes get inflamed and switch into defense mode. And
this is where things get runny, because those membranes start
producing mucus in order to trap any irritants that might
be floating around unchecked. Then any captured intruders are drained
out through the nasal passage.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So that really is sound advice to, you know, eat
hot soup or something when you want to clear out
your sinuses.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Actually I'd always been told that, but really I've learned
more recently that that's not the case, because while eating
something spicy can provide temporary relief for stuff, he knows,
in the long run this may actually cause more harm
than good. So if you think about, the chemicals I
mentioned can also irritate the muscles in your nose, and
that causes them to let in more air than they
normally would. And when this happens, the receptors in the
(27:21):
nose inform the brain that you're breathing much easier. So
the net result is that you think the hot soup
or whatever worked its magic, but in reality, you've just
fallen for yet another one of capsation's chemical tricks. Now,
once the heat wears off, your nose muscles contract again
and you're back to feeling all stuffed up, except now
you've got a bunch of extra snot on top of
(27:42):
everything else, and it actually leaves you worse soft than
you were before.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Oh crazy, I've never heard that before. So, speaking of
spicy rodents that do a number on your insides, do
you know something similar happens in our intestine when we
eat spicy foods. You might remember from the Flavor episode
that we don't just have taste buds in our mouths,
but all throughout our bodies, including in our colon and intestines.
And when these intestinal buds sense the inflammatory chemicals we've
(28:07):
been talking about, they relay a message to the brain
telling it to get these airtons out of the body asap.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Oh wow, So this is why spicy foods can make
some people nauseous or even send them running the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Exactly. So the brain responds to the threat by speeding
up bowel movements, and if you eat something especially spicy,
your body basically goes to deaf con one.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, for exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I read this case study about a guy who ate
a bunch of ghost peppers at an eating contest, and
he actually threw up so hard as a result, he
actually tore a hole in his esophagus.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Oh good, that's awful, was the guy?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Okay, he was, And thankfully you got treatment fast enough
to prevent what otherwise could have been a pretty nasty death.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I'm guessing he'll lay off the ghost peppers from now
on too. But that's not like Tristan over, who's been
dominating his spread of spicy foods for what like half
an hour. And now, I don't know what's going on
with this guy, but that intestinal irritation should have kicked
in by now.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, I mean, I think he's got a stomach of steel.
But it's only a matter of time at this point.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
All right, well, better work quick. So what do you
say we get to the fact off.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
So I'm not sure if you realize this, but our
offices sit in the second spiciest city in America, and
these are the cities where people most commonly order spicy
foods at restaurants. This is according to grub hub. Charlotte
actually takes the crown at number one, and it's followed
by Atlanta, then Austin, Dallas, and then San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Okay, So, given your love of spice and the ability
to look as cool as a cucumber when you eat
spicy foods, I've got a place for you to visit.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So have you ever been to the brick Laye curry
House in New York?
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So they have this ridiculously hot curry and they put
customers up to the challenge to see who can finish
the dish that it's served him. It's actually so hot
that the chef wears a gas mask as he prepares it.
But if you finish it, you'll get a free beer,
a picture on their website, and it's certificate showing you've
done it, a certificate mango.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Well that sounds nice. But I'm actually going for a
bigger prize, and that's why I think I'm going to
take on the Inferno Soup challenge at Nitay's Thai mex
Cuisine in Saint Petersburg, Florida. And the soup has noodles
and chicken and a bunch of vegetables, but it also
has crushed ghost peppers and lots of other peppers. To
try it out, you actually have to be over eighteen.
(30:23):
You have to be of sound mind and health, and
of course sober. And it wasn't until twenty twelve that
someone finally managed to finish off a bowl and they
won fifteen hundred bucks as a result.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Wow, that is a lot of money, but I can't
imagine that it's worth it for the pain that that
must cost at all.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
So I was actually laughing about this.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I was reading about how many Mexicans are often puzzled
by how Americans basically guzzle sausa. I mean, we love
it that much. That was a great quote from a
chef that was interviewed by the New York Times. He's
based in Mexico, and he said, watching someone shovel and
sausa with tortilla chips is strange to Mexicans, like how
an American would feel watching someone drink salad dressing out
(31:00):
of a bottle.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
So, speaking of salsa, I'm not sure if you remember this,
but back in nineteen ninety eight, the USDA officially declared
salsa of vegetable and this allowed schools to start serving
it more. And this of course irked ketchup makers because
they had tried and failed to get the same designation
years before.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
This does make me feel a little bit better about
all of our salsa consumption when we go to Mexican
restaurants and you've kind of frightening how much we eat
when we're there. But yeah, now we're eating a lot
of vegetables. I'm pretty sure this means we're super healthy eaters.
The five hundred tortilla chips are good for you too, right,
I would let's go with yes, We'll do an episode
on that on a later date. So I'm going to
(31:39):
declare you the winner of today's fact off. Congratulations Mango,
Thanks very much, well, and thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do
the important.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Things we couldn't even begin to understand.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Christa McNeil does the edit.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Noel Brown made the theme song and does the mixy
mixy sound thing.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Gabe Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the
Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams
and Eves.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe,
And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
you could leave a.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Good review for us.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Do we forget Jason?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Jason who
Guess what, Mango, what's that will? You're probably not going
to be surprised to hear this, but I think I'm
ready for another spice challenge. Oh really, yeah, I've been training.
I'm serious about this now, listeners. So you know, Mango
and I both love spicy foods. It almost took professional
help for me to break my unhealthy addiction to jalapino
kettle chips.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
This was a few years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Of course, I just traded it out for another habit,
and so now I eat at least a couple of
atomic fireballs every day.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
That's probably an understatement. Maybe there's four or five.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
But when it comes to eating spicy food, I always
think I'm a spice champ until I eat with Mango.
So we'll go to an Indian or a Seshuan place,
ord up a few dishes with some extra spice.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Our food comes.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Out, and that's when the sweating starts.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
It's so irritating because I love the spiciness, I honestly do.
But you'll be over there downing all this crazy spicy stuff,
even requesting these extra spice bombs like you do with
the Ramen place, and it doesn't seem to affect you
at all. Meanwhile, ten minutes in, I look like I've
just finished a marathon. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well, I mean I've told you it doesn't matter, right,
it's just as long as you enjoy the food.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, But the white staff always seems concerned, and you
just look at them. It's like you guys have this
secret unspoken language. You'll just not and with that simple nod,
it's as if you're saying, like, it's okay, he's fine,
he's just from Alabama, not India. And then they look
at you and they not as if to say, we
felt pretty safe and assuming he's not from India, But
are you sure he's okay? I mean, just look at
(01:26):
him over there. It's amazing this language that you guys have.
You look back as if to say, trust me, he's fine.
This happens every time. But if you have a couple
of bath towels, you know, one for his forehead and
one to soak up the pool on the floor, that
would be great.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well, I'm pretty sure that's all on your head. We
don't have any sort of secret language. By I do
have these cards printed up that say what you're about
to see is in pretty but don't panic.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well that's thoughtful of you, But either way, we both
love spicy food and the science of spicy food is
fascinating to both of us. So we had so many
questions going into this episode. How did humans evolve to
enjoy spicy food, what does it predict about our personalities
if we enjoy that spicy kick? And is there any
evidence that eating spicy foods could help us live longer?
(02:10):
So let's get started. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to
(02:38):
Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm
joined by my good friend Mangesh hot Ticket and on
the other side of the soundproof glass demonstrating just how
well he can take the heat, that's our friend and
producer Tristan McNeil. Now, I really do wish our listeners
could see this, because Tristan's assembled this spicy food fees
for the ages here.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I mean, look at this stuff that he's eating.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
He's got an order of drunken noodles, a Sishuan hot pot,
a bowl of five alarm chili, a pile of ghost
pepper chicken wings.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I mean, it's ridiculous, and he's just going to town
on all of it. This guy is a machine. I
honestly feel.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
He's just like showing off at this point. I feel
like you should have, like that cartoon steam coming out
of his ears, but he hasn't even broken a sweat.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It is a little bit eerie.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well all right, Well, you know, while most people enjoy
adding at least a little spice to their meals, some
can definitely handle the heat better than others. So we'll
take a look at why that is a little bit
later in the show. But to kick things off, I
thought we should talk about what makes spicy foods taste
hot in the first place, or really, I should say,
what makes us think that spicy foods taste hot, Because,
as you might remember from one of our earlier episodes,
(03:42):
the one we did on the science of flavor, spicy
isn't really a taste at all. In reality, the burning
sensations we feel from spicy foods, those are the result
of our sense of touch, rather than from taste or smell.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, I remember him alst like some sort of chemical trickery, right,
Like it has something to do with how keapsasan interacts
with our touch receptors.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So cap Sacin of course, is the chemical and the
seeds and the tissue of the chili peppers that gives
them their heat. And you know, pepper plants actually evolve
capsationin as a protective measure, and this was to help them,
you know, protect them against animals and insects so they
can have a better shot at dispersing their seeds. So,
for instance, when humans and other mammals eat chili peppers,
we tend to make it so the seeds can't be
(04:23):
germinated later when we inevitably part ways with them and
we grind the seeds too much with our molars, or
else we destroy them completely in our harsh digestive tracks.
So as a deterrent to this, pepper plants started producing
a chemical that activates these special touch receptors, and they're
found all over the inner layer of our skin and
that includes our mouths.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
This receptor is called trip V one, and it's the
body's early warning system for hot temperatures.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So think about it.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
If you sit out in the sun too long and
your skin starts to burn a little, or when your
hand graises the hot stove and you know to pull
it away really quickly, that's trip v one at work.
And this is where the chemical trickery that you mentioned
comes in, because Capsacan actually works by lowering the energy
needed to activate those trip v one defenses. So while
these receptors would typically read any mouth temperature over one
(05:11):
hundred and nine degrees fahrenheit as a burn, once they
bonded with capsasan anything higher than ninety three degrees fahrenheit
registers as dangerously hot.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
So that's interesting. But I mean, the average mouth temperature
for humans is ninety eight point six. So capsason actually
makes these receptors think your whole mouth is burning.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, that's exactly what happens, and that's why it sometimes
feels like your entire mouth is on fire when you
eat something spicy, because you know, as far as your
brain knows, it actually is.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
So then if we have these touch receptors all over
our body and not just in our mouths, why don't
we feel like our skin is burning anytime we touch
a chili pepper?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well, remember we're talking about the inner layer of our
skin that has these receptors, so we can really only
feel the burn of a pepper's on areas where our
outer skin layer is thin enough for that capsasin to
get through. So the mouth is obviously one of the
places the eyes are an and that's why you're never
supposed to touch your eyes after you've been handling chili peppers.
And there are also a few other thin skin places
(06:07):
that we don't have to name here, but you can
probably use your imagination for these.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah. I actually remember reading this old Hungarian proverb about
how good paprika burns twice, so I think I know
what you're getting at.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I love how you always try to find a way
to use a Hungarian proverb, but I should mention that
it's not just capsation that triggers this false flag burning sensation.
You know. Research also shows that trippy one receptors also
respond to other quote unquote hot foods, including black pepper
and ginger. And there's also trip a one that's so
called was sabi receptor, and that's activated by a certain
(06:41):
oil that's found in foods like horse radish and mustards, onions, garlic, cinnamon,
and of course was sabi.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I like how, at first glass it seems like all
those plants have come up with this genius way of
making themselves unpalatable to mammals. But then when you think
about it, there's this one stubborn species that doesn't seem
to have gotten the memo, right, Humans, Like, we love
our spicy foods, and we even have contest just to
see how much heat we can stomach.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, it's weird that we do these things that cause pain,
or at least make us think that we're in pain.
Is pretty strange when you think about it. But there
was this one researcher. It was a professor of psychology.
His name was Paul Rosen. This was back in the
nineteen eighties, and he actually proved that there is a
connection between thrill seeking and eating spicy foods. So here's
how Rosen puts it. He says, humans, and only humans,
(07:29):
seem to get pleasure out of innately negative experiences when
they are aware that the body's signals are not really threatening.
There's a term for it. He calls it benign masochisms.
And it's the same inclination that makes it fun to
ride a roller coaster or watch a scary movie. I mean,
all these things provoke these real biological responses in our bodies.
But since we know at some level there's no real danger,
(07:52):
the end result is actually a pleasurable feeling rather than
this purely painful one.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
So I actually read up on where that pleasure stems from.
Was pretty surprising because it turns out while men and
women both enjoy spicy foods, the reason why they do
it are completely different. So for women, research shows that
they simply like the burning sting that spicy foods provide.
And since capsasin has been known to trigger the release
of endorphins, you know, maybe that's not so surprising, right,
(08:17):
it makes you feel good. But men, on the other hand,
tend to partake in spicy foods because they like the attention.
Brow We like attention, We love that spotlight. So there's
no denying that downing a whole plate of like hot wings,
you know it is going to get you some street
cred in some circles. And our culture actually views being
able to withstand spicy foods as a sin of strength
and the lust for that kind of like social glory
(08:39):
that seems to drive male spicy food fans more than
anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, that actually makes sense in light of a study
I was reading about from a few years ago. The
researchers at the University of Grenoble, and they got together
one hundred and fourteen men, and they brought them together
in a testing lab and had them sit down to
a meal of mashed potatoes and hot sauce.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I don't know why it was.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I don't know why it need to be mashed potatoes,
but actually I would do this, but how much hot
sauce was to be used was completely up to the participants. Now,
in the end, the men who used the most were
also the ones with the highest levels of testosterone. Not
only that, but those who had the spiciest palettes also
shared tendencies toward social dominance, aggression, and risk taking, all
(09:21):
of which have been linked already to high testosterone.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It's kind of crazy how much of a predictor is
someone's personality can be for whether or not they like
spicy foods. Right, Apparently, people who are into action movies
and really adventurous hobbies are six times more likely to
enjoy hot foods than those who prefer tamer pastimes.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Which is why I know you were not part of
this study, because I know you love spicy foods. But
if I think about all the movies you've recommended over
the years, the ones that had the most action in
them were probably I don't know, like Rushmore and AMAI
maybe have like the least action packed movies ever. So
I do love to read those descriptions of like aggression
(09:59):
and dominance and all that.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So there is something great about it. I worked in
this Italian restaurant where all the wait staff was Mexican,
and they were doing this thing where they got these
cucumbers and they put all the spice on it, and
they were calling the students over and one by one
giving them these cucumbers, and then and then everyone's mouth
was on fire. And then they called me over and
they were like watch, watch, watch, and they had anyone.
(10:21):
It's like it wasn't that spicy. It felt like a
super powerful. Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And I do wonder if it's always been that way,
Like is that how humans started eating spicy food to
begin with? You imagine like this prehistoric daredevil that came
along and decided to chew through that burn because he
liked the adrenaline boost.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Or I don't really know.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, I mean I was reading about this archaeological drig
from a few years ago where these researchers found evidence
that Europeans had been spicing up their food for way
longer than we once thought. Like, apparently they found the
remains of cooking pots from more than six thousand years
ago at three different dig sites, and this is in
northern Europe, and inside the pots they found the these
bits of plant residue, some of which looked a lot
(11:02):
like modern day garlic mustard seeds.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
So, I mean, but what makes you sure that they
were eating the seeds for the heat specifically.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Well, mustard seeds, like most spicy plants we've been talking about,
have next to no nutritional values, so they wouldn't have
been providing much energy on their own, but they definitely
would have added like a sharp bite to whatever else
was on the menu. And that's ultimately what researchers believe
we're dealing with here, the earliest known use of spices
and cooking.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That is pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you know, I always assume prehistoric humans had these
bland diets for the most part.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I don't know why. I'm just thinking about what was available.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So I just imagine like lots of cooked meat and
whatever edible plants that could scrounge up that might help
them just survive with that being the main goal. So
it is kind of fun to hear that they might
have been experimenting with different foods and adding flavor just
for flavor's sake.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, and I'm actually glad our ancestors were willing to
try new things, because that's likely why spicy foods taste
so good to us in the first place.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
What do you mean.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I thought we were in agreement that spiciness is more
of a mouthfeel and not a tape.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah. I mean, we explain why our bodies register certain
foods as hot, but those foods still carry their own
flavors too. I mean, think about what a chili pepper
tastes like. Right, It feels hot, but it tastes kind
of earthy or bitter, maybe even mildly fruity.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So you're saying we inherited a taste for those flavors
from like as far back as caveman.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Well, I mean, maybe not cavemen exactly, but these beneficial
traits are passed down both culturally and genetically, and that
includes our preferences for specific flavors.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
All right, But is liking the flavor of spicy foods
a beneficial trade? I mean you just said that most
spices have basically zero nutritional value though, right.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's true, but you've got to keep in mind that
spices have these anti microbial properties that can be very
useful for preventing food spoilage. So think about chilis and
other hot peppers. They can actually kill up to seventy
five percent of food born bacteria, and then spices like garlic,
onion or regano that can actually wipe out the full
hundred percent. So while today we mostly use spices to
(12:58):
enhance our foods flavor, any researchers actually think the original
reason for using spices was to kill that food borne
bacteria and fungi. And if that's the case, like the
people who ate those foods with antibacterial spices were likely
the healthiest ones in their communities. And not only would
these prehistoric chefs have passed on their cooking tips to
their offspring, they also would have likely passed along this
(13:19):
taste for spicy bacteria killing cuisine.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
H I think, I get it, And so from an
evolutionary perspective, it makes sense to have taste receptors that
are well tuned to spicy flavors because you know, ultimately
that would make us likely to seek out foods that
are protected against spoilage and I guess, in theory would
keep us alive longer.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Exactly, and making this connection between microbes and spices was
no easy task. A research team at Cornell only pulled
it off by scouring a mountain of data. And this
included nearly five thousand recipes from ninety three cookbooks, and
it represented the traditional meat based cuisines of I guess
thirty six countries. And in the end the researchers were
able to conclude that quote recipes are a record of
(13:59):
the history of the evily utiononary race between us and
our parasites. The micros are competing with us for the
same food. Everything we do with food, drying, cooking, smoking, salting,
or adding spices is an attempt to keep from being
poisoned by our microscopic competitors. They're constantly mutating and involving
to stay ahead of us. One way we reduce food
(14:19):
borne illnesses is to add another spice to the recipe.
Of course, that makes the food taste different, and the
people who learn to like the new taste are healthier
for it.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
All right, Well, speaking of health, I do want to
take a closer look at what spicy foods can and
can't do to our bodies, including whether they can actually
help us live longer. But before we crank up the heat,
let's cool off with a quick break. You're listening to
(14:52):
Part Time Genius and we're talking about the mouth watering
signs behind some of our favorite spicy foods. All right,
So a minute ago you were telling us about the
ability that's certain spices have to repel bacteria, and humans
aren't the only animal to reap that benefit. For example,
I was reading about a study where researchers at Virginia
Tech found that when chickens infected with salmonella eat a
capsation heavy diet, the germs within their internal organs are
(15:16):
reduced by half when you compare those two infected chickens
that just eat a normal diet.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
So, I mean, I've got to ask if you were
to eat the chili eating chickens, like, would they taste spicier?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You know, knowing how much I used to love the
spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's, don't you think I thought
about this? I spent a lot of time wondering this,
But I'm afraid the answer is no. And they actually
got a taste panel together to determine that the flavor
of the chilies did not make its way into the meat.
And by the way, can you imagine being on this
taste pan being served a plate of chicken that was
(15:48):
once riddled with salmonella? I feel like the lack of
spice would be the least of my worries in that one.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I know. Well, what's crazy to me is that those
chickens must have scarved down like a ton of chilies
to kill such a large percentage of bacteria, and yet
they didn't even feel the peppers heat one bit. And
this is something else I know we touched on in
our flavor episode. But the reason for the chickens immunity
is that the birds actually lack that trip V one
food receptor, and that actually makes them ideal customers for
(16:15):
chili peppers because birds digestive tracts are much easier on
seeds than those of mammals.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
All right, so chili peppers and birds have a pretty
good thing going with one another. But I do want
to be selfish and talk a little bit more about
what spicy foods can do for us mangos. So, you know,
because the compounds found in our go to spices actually
have medicinal properties that humans have relied on for centuries.
For instance, you've probably heard that some spices contain properties
(16:40):
that reduce inflammation, including turmeric, ginger, and garlic. And there
was even a study out of UCLA a few years
back where researchers use capsation to hinder the growth of
prostate cancer cells. And this was in mice and it
actually left their healthy cells intact. Not to be fair,
there isn't much evidence to suggest that eating chilis can
prevent you from getting cancer, but if nothing else, I mean,
(17:02):
the research gives some hope that peppers could help keep
the disease in checks sometime in the future.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Well, and there's another area where scientists hope to harness
this power of spice, and that's with pain management. So
we explained earlier how capsasin activates receptors that trigger that
familiar burning sensation in our mouths. But what we didn't
mention is that our ability to perceive that burn is
dead and the longer the chemical stays in your mouth.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So how does that work.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Well, there's this mysterious compound it's called a substance p
and that's involved in this pain perception, and it gets
released when the cap sasin activates our pain receptors. But
after a while, our body's supply gets depleted and the
brain stops receiving these pain signals altogether. So, of course,
capsasan's ability to drain substance pa and pain perception is
(17:48):
an exciting prospect for the medical community. In fact, it's
already been used in these topical creams to treat arthritis,
and there's actually hope that it can be applied to
anesthesia and painkillers at some point too.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
So this is a little off topic, but you mentioned
how capsaicin continues to burn for as long as it
stays in our mouths, and actually, I'm just curious is
there a way to get it out of there faster?
Because you always hear that milk is great for soothing
the burning mouth, but most of the time when I'm
eating something spicy, I don't have a glass of milk
text to me. But at least it's supposed to be
better than water, but I've never actually fact checked this.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, so definitely don't bother with water that just spreads
the cap season around your mouth without killing any of
its heat, and instead this is a case where the
rumors really are true, because milk can absolutely neutralize that
chili burn. And that's because dairy products and capsaicin both
contain non polar molecules which are capable of dissolving one another.
But that isn't milk's only trick, because it also contains
(18:43):
something called casin, and this protein is able to attract
capsason molecules to itself. So not only will milk or
ice cream neutralize the capsaicin molecules that happens to touch,
but it actually pulls any stragglers off of our trip
V one receptors and it dissolves those as well.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I'd always wondered whether that actually works, but that makes sense,
all right. Well, there's one more potential health benefit to
eating spicy foods that I want to talk about, and
that's the idea that doing so will actually help you
live longer. And believe it or not, there is some
research to back up this claim. Back in twenty fifteen,
there was an international team of researchers and they were
taking an in depth look at the connection between spicy
(19:22):
food consumption and longer lifespans, and what they found was
that eating spicy food at least once a day for
six or seven days a week can actually lower mortality
rates by fourteen percent when compared to eating spicy food
just once a week.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
So I love this idea of eating spicy food that
many times a week, But who actually eats that much
spicy food? I don't know who does well.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
The researchers were very smart about this because they focus
their study on Chinese people, who tend to eat way
more spicy dishes on average than most other cultures. And
on that front, the team had no shortage of volunteers.
They actually studied the diets of almost half a million
people in China.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Now all the participants were between the ages of thirty
and seventy nine. They all agreed to take part in
the study for a full seven years.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
That's kind of amazing. So what did the study consist
of exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Well, the participants were surveyed about how often they ate
spicy foods and which kinds of spices that they liked most,
and then the team followed up with them periodically to
see how their health was holding up and if there
were any major changes to their diets during the seven
year span of the study. More than twenty thousand of
these subjects died, But after factoring in things like smoking
and income and several other factors, the scientists found that
(20:33):
the daily chili eaters really did have a lower chance
of dying prematurely. And not only was the overall risk
of death lower for them, the mortality rate for specific
causes was too, and this included conditions like cancer and
certain forms of heart and respiratory disease as well.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
That's pretty incredible, but eating spicy foods every day is
probably too much for people who weren't raised on that
kind of diet. Was there any upside to like a
more modest spicy food diet?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Actually there was, I was curios about the same thing.
So the researchers found that those who ate spicy food
once or twice a week still had a mortality rate
ten percent lower than those of people who avoided spicy
food altogether. And while these are pretty modest numbers overall,
it's still impressive that a single type of food could
have that much of an effect on our risk of death.
(21:19):
But in fairness, the study never actually proved causation. I mean,
there could have been other factors beyond spicy food consumption
that would, you know, give participants a longer lifespan than others.
But you know, if you're a fan of spicy foods already,
i'd say upping your intake probably couldn't hurt.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Well, I'm glad you gave that little disclaimer, because one
thing I noticed while researching is that there's an awful
lot of misinformation out there about spicy foods. And you know,
the internet is chalk full of stories about how eating
too many jilipinos will give you an ulcer, or how
capsaicin can burn off your taste buds. So with that
in mind, I thought it might be fun to take
a look at some of these claims and see which
ones hold water and which ones are just hot air.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
All right, that sounds good, But before we get to it,
let's take another quick break. Okay, mango, So let's debunk
some fiery food myths.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Where do you want to start?
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Definitely, So let's go with one I already mentioned, which
is that spicy foods can cause ulcers and acid reflux.
And this one gets a lot of traction because plenty
of people report acid reflux or heartburn after eating chili
peppers or hot sauce, And for a long time, doctors
actually thought spicy foods were the main cause of ulcers
and the like. But now we know better because scientists
(22:38):
were able to identify the stomach bacteria that's actually responsible
for these conditions.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
All right, what about the people who get heartburn or
acid reflux after eating something spicy?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Are you saying that's just a coincidence or what?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
No? Definitely not so hot peppers can certainly aggravate these
kinds of pre existing conditions, but they actually can't cause them.
So someone who's been diagnosed with gourd, for instance, might
want to steer clear of chili's. But there's no truth
to the idea that eating too much spicy food will
bring on these conditions and people who don't already have them.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
All right, Well, what about this urban legend you sometimes
hear about people overdosing on hot sauce. I mean, it
sounds far fetched, but some folks really put this stuff
on everything, So the idea of using too much of it,
I mean, it does maybe seem plausible.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
So believe it or not, this one's actually true. So
capsaicin is a super deadly poison in its pure form,
which is why most hot sauces only contain trace amounts
of the substance, and still, if you consumed enough hot sauce,
it could definitely do some damage. For example, there was
this one study that concluded that a person of average
weight would have to ingest nearly half a gallon of
(23:42):
Tabasco sauce to overdose and pass out. So of course
it would take a lot more than that to actually
kill you, but it's totally possible in theory.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
You know, mango, you can actually die from drinking too
much water. I feel like maybe I should share this story.
But if you remember when we were in college, we
were sitting around on one of the quads and this
reporter came up and there had unfortunately been a death
from somebody who had, you know, had way too much
alcohol one night, and so obviously that's a very serious story.
But we were all just looking to sit around and
(24:11):
have a good time outside, and suddenly there was a
reporter wanting to ask us all these questions. And she
asked the question, did you know you can die from
drinking too much alcohol? I said, you can die from
drinking too much water. And so the very next day,
this one story the only time I was ever quoted
in the local newspaper was Will Pearson reports, you can
die from drinking too much water.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
So it is a fact.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
That was one of our first facts.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So having that much hot sauce in your bag maybe
isn't the greatest idea. And actually, you know, the gym
is another place where hot sauce won't do you any favors.
Speaking of other myths, I always heard that spicy foods
can help boost your metabolism. The idea there is that
when your body gets all hot and sweaty while eating
spicy foods, that it must be burning calories in the process,
(24:54):
you know, since that's what happens when you exercise. But
suddenly that's not the case with capsas. Studies have shown
that any increase in metabolic rate brought on by spicy
foods is statistically negligible. So, in other words, the thousand
calories you get from an over stuffed burrito, you can't
really undo that by just putting a lot of hot
sauce on it.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Well, since you just took a potential benefit of spicy
foods off the table, I'm going to even things out
and do the same thing with one of its potential harms.
So you've probably heard that rumor that too much spice
can do permanent harm to your taste buds. Yeah, and
I mean it doesn't sound too crazy on paper, right,
Like capsasan can lead to such an overwhelming mouth burn
that it can be tough to taste anything else for
a while, which might make you think that your taste
(25:35):
buds are well and truly busted.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
But the good news is.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
That cap sasan doesn't damage your taste buds tissue at all. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I was actually going to say, you know, much like hair,
taste buds are constantly being replaced, so the idea of
doing permanent damage to them it doesn't really make much sense.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, I mean, eating hot foods and I'm talking temperature here,
not spiciness can kill taste buds. But like you said,
those are replaced pretty often, so even that wouldn't be permanent.
And when it comes to capsation, there's really no risk
at all because, like we've been saying, the chemical interacts
with our heat sensing receptors, not our taste buds. So
even if your tongue feels numb after eating something spicy,
(26:12):
your taste buds are totally fine.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
All right.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well, now that we've covered some things that spicy foods
can't do to your body, I do quickly want to
go over some of the things that actually they can do.
So for starters, spicy foods like curries, hot sauce, and
with sabi absolutely can make your nose run. And the
reason why comes down to the natural irritants those foods contain.
So in the case of chili peppers, that would be capsation. Now,
(26:35):
when the chemicals come in contact with your mucous membranes,
the membranes get inflamed and switch into defense mode. And
this is where things get runny, because those membranes start
producing mucus in order to trap any irritants that might
be floating around unchecked. Then any captured intruders are drained
out through the nasal passage.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So that really is sound advice to, you know, eat
hot soup or something when you want to clear out
your sinuses.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Actually I'd always been told that, but really I've learned
more recently that that's not the case, because while eating
something spicy can provide temporary relief for stuff, he knows,
in the long run this may actually cause more harm
than good. So if you think about, the chemicals I
mentioned can also irritate the muscles in your nose, and
that causes them to let in more air than they
normally would. And when this happens, the receptors in the
(27:21):
nose inform the brain that you're breathing much easier. So
the net result is that you think the hot soup
or whatever worked its magic, but in reality, you've just
fallen for yet another one of capsation's chemical tricks. Now,
once the heat wears off, your nose muscles contract again
and you're back to feeling all stuffed up, except now
you've got a bunch of extra snot on top of
(27:42):
everything else, and it actually leaves you worse soft than
you were before.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Oh crazy, I've never heard that before. So, speaking of
spicy rodents that do a number on your insides, do
you know something similar happens in our intestine when we
eat spicy foods. You might remember from the Flavor episode
that we don't just have taste buds in our mouths,
but all throughout our bodies, including in our colon and intestines.
And when these intestinal buds sense the inflammatory chemicals we've
(28:07):
been talking about, they relay a message to the brain
telling it to get these airtons out of the body asap.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Oh wow, So this is why spicy foods can make
some people nauseous or even send them running the bathroom.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Exactly. So the brain responds to the threat by speeding
up bowel movements, and if you eat something especially spicy,
your body basically goes to deaf con one.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah, for exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
I read this case study about a guy who ate
a bunch of ghost peppers at an eating contest, and
he actually threw up so hard as a result, he
actually tore a hole in his esophagus.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Oh good, that's awful, was the guy?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Okay, he was, And thankfully you got treatment fast enough
to prevent what otherwise could have been a pretty nasty death.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I'm guessing he'll lay off the ghost peppers from now
on too. But that's not like Tristan over, who's been
dominating his spread of spicy foods for what like half
an hour. And now, I don't know what's going on
with this guy, but that intestinal irritation should have kicked
in by now.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, I mean, I think he's got a stomach of steel.
But it's only a matter of time at this point.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
All right, well, better work quick. So what do you
say we get to the fact off.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
So I'm not sure if you realize this, but our
offices sit in the second spiciest city in America, and
these are the cities where people most commonly order spicy
foods at restaurants. This is according to grub hub. Charlotte
actually takes the crown at number one, and it's followed
by Atlanta, then Austin, Dallas, and then San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Okay, So, given your love of spice and the ability
to look as cool as a cucumber when you eat
spicy foods, I've got a place for you to visit.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
So have you ever been to the brick Laye curry
House in New York?
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So they have this ridiculously hot curry and they put
customers up to the challenge to see who can finish
the dish that it's served him. It's actually so hot
that the chef wears a gas mask as he prepares it.
But if you finish it, you'll get a free beer,
a picture on their website, and it's certificate showing you've
done it, a certificate mango.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Well that sounds nice. But I'm actually going for a
bigger prize, and that's why I think I'm going to
take on the Inferno Soup challenge at Nitay's Thai mex
Cuisine in Saint Petersburg, Florida. And the soup has noodles
and chicken and a bunch of vegetables, but it also
has crushed ghost peppers and lots of other peppers. To
try it out, you actually have to be over eighteen.
(30:23):
You have to be of sound mind and health, and
of course sober. And it wasn't until twenty twelve that
someone finally managed to finish off a bowl and they
won fifteen hundred bucks as a result.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Wow, that is a lot of money, but I can't
imagine that it's worth it for the pain that that
must cost at all.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
So I was actually laughing about this.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I was reading about how many Mexicans are often puzzled
by how Americans basically guzzle sausa. I mean, we love
it that much. That was a great quote from a
chef that was interviewed by the New York Times. He's
based in Mexico, and he said, watching someone shovel and
sausa with tortilla chips is strange to Mexicans, like how
an American would feel watching someone drink salad dressing out
(31:00):
of a bottle.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
So, speaking of salsa, I'm not sure if you remember this,
but back in nineteen ninety eight, the USDA officially declared
salsa of vegetable and this allowed schools to start serving
it more. And this of course irked ketchup makers because
they had tried and failed to get the same designation
years before.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
This does make me feel a little bit better about
all of our salsa consumption when we go to Mexican
restaurants and you've kind of frightening how much we eat
when we're there. But yeah, now we're eating a lot
of vegetables. I'm pretty sure this means we're super healthy eaters.
The five hundred tortilla chips are good for you too, right,
I would let's go with yes, We'll do an episode
on that on a later date. So I'm going to
(31:39):
declare you the winner of today's fact off. Congratulations Mango,
Thanks very much, well, and thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Part Time Genius is a production of how stuff works
and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do
the important.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Things we couldn't even begin to understand.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Christa McNeil does the edit.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Noel Brown made the theme song and does the mixy
mixy sound thing.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Gabe Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the
Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams
and Eves.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
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And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
you could leave a.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
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Speaker 3 (32:20):
Do we forget Jason?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Jason who
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
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