Fish
02-22-2008, 09:53 AM
This is a really interesting article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=516559&in_page_id=1774).
My favorite section is "What is the hottest curry you can bear to eat?"
I eat a lot of hot curry (Curry is really popular here in Japan, though you have to ask them to make it hot, or else it will be really nancy-boy sweet), and so it's nice to know that it's pretty much impossible to just drop dead from eating something too spicy:
Although capsaicin does not actually cause a chemical burn or any direct tissue damage itself, the impact on the nervous system of such powerful stimulation is similar to an allergic reaction. As well as incredible pain, you could expect uncontrollably streaming eyes and nose, upper body spasms, and severe difficulty breathing for 30 to 45 minutes.
...
Provided you are healthy with no history of heart conditions or asthma, it might be possible to survive a teaspoon of pure capsaicin, but impossible to eat anything else for a few hours.
My favorite section is "What is the hottest curry you can bear to eat?"
I eat a lot of hot curry (Curry is really popular here in Japan, though you have to ask them to make it hot, or else it will be really nancy-boy sweet), and so it's nice to know that it's pretty much impossible to just drop dead from eating something too spicy:
Although capsaicin does not actually cause a chemical burn or any direct tissue damage itself, the impact on the nervous system of such powerful stimulation is similar to an allergic reaction. As well as incredible pain, you could expect uncontrollably streaming eyes and nose, upper body spasms, and severe difficulty breathing for 30 to 45 minutes.
...
Provided you are healthy with no history of heart conditions or asthma, it might be possible to survive a teaspoon of pure capsaicin, but impossible to eat anything else for a few hours.