# Can you hurt yourself with spice?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-hurt-yourself-with-spice/157684>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 26, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-hurt-yourself-with-spice/157684 "2003-02-26T17:49:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-hurt-yourself-with-spice/157684/41 "2003-02-27T07:29:44Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by scr4 \*  
> \*\*According to [this page](http://comexa.com/tech/driedhab.htm), dired habanero has a capsaicin concentration of 6400 ppm, or 0.64%. So it takes about 6 kilograms (14 pounds) of dired habanero to kill someone. \*\*

I have no idea how I managed to misspell _dried_ twice in the same sentence. :smack:

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-hurt-yourself-with-spice/157684/42 "2003-02-27T10:35:19Z")

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Capsaicin is an alkaloid. Milk is slightly acid, so it helps to cool the mouth. So does hot tea. Cola drinks are more acidic, so they’re my antidote of choice.

By the way, **scr4,** “dired” is probably an appropriate way to spell it when you’re talking about habaneros.:eek: :eek:

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