Dangers of Hot Sauce

Factual Questions
1

This is perhaps a medical science question. Has anyone ever fed lab rats a steadily increasing diet of hot sauce and studied the effect? What are the hazards to humans from hot sauce?
I know there are hot sauce shops and hot sauce clubs and undoubtedly lots of internet info on hot sauce but what are the dangers of hot sauce?
Trivia I know:

  1. First let’s deal with the “burning ring of fire”, irritation of the anus after consuming hot sauce. Could this cause hemorrhoids?
  2. I read that hot sauce stimulates mucus production. People with respiratory ailments may subconciously crave hot sauce.
  3. I heard of a good way to deal with that annoying jock at school: Challenge him to chug-a-lug tabasco sauce when he’s drunk. He may collapse and die from his throat swelling up. (warning: do not ever commit this very serious assault)
  4. Digging into a very hot spicy Indian curry will cause you to burst into sweat.
  5. If you cut up a hot pepper don’t touch your eye or any other very sensitive part of the body until all the oils are off your hands. Professionals use rubber gloves.
  6. Apparently people become conditioned to hot peppers. There are stories of people who can consume the hottest of peppers raw and, in some countries, the locals enjoy dishes so spicy that few North Americans can eat them. Could, for example, somebody from England, notorious for the lack of spice in its traditional cuisine and recognizing the increasing popularity of Indian curries this century, quickly become conditioned to a very spicy diet without ill effects?
  7. Spices, especially hot spices, can disguise spoiled food and repel insects and animals from eating the food.

Other than the obvious prohibitions against hot sauce, such as for people with ulcers or inflamed digestive systems from other causes, are there any warnings hot sauce lovers should know? Could hot sauce cause ulcers, inflamed digestive systems, hemorrhoids, or death?

“When the lamb is lost on the mountain it cry. Sometime come the mother, sometime the wolf.” - Cormac McCarthy

2

You’re dealing with capsicum peppers, here.
Danger? Think of the old saying that “Sauerkraut cures the German and kills the Irishman.”
It’s subjective.

3

It is said (true or not I do not know that certain cultures eat so much spicy food they are immune to pepper spray.

4

Taking the points from the OP in order:

  1. Nope. Hemmorhoids are basically just varicose veins; irritation does not cause or promote their formation.

  2. There’s no reason to theorize a link between spicy foods and respiratory disease. Guessing about a “subconscious craving” is unjustified.

  3. I once downed a bottle of Tabasco. I’m still alive. 'Nuff said.

  4. Eating any spicy food-- not just curry-- can cause you to sweat.

  5. True. Capsaicin (the active ingredient in most hot peppers) is irritating to all parts of your skin. Getting it in one’s eye is really interesting.

  6. One does become desensitized to capsaicin after repeated exposure. If you were willing to deal with some pain, you could become nearly immune to the stuff after a few years of dedicated “training.”
    Hot sauce, in normal amounts, cannot cause any of the things you describe. Concentrated capsaicin is a bit more dangerous-- if left on unprotected skin, it can raise blisters-- but you’d still have to drink a lot of it in order to be in real danger.

(Aside: Stomach ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection (helicobacter pylori?). The idea that spicy food can give you an ulcer has been discredited.)

Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.

5

Markxxx, that rumor is untrue.

The nerves that have been exposed to capsaicin do become less sensitive, but the rest of the body doesn’t. Eating hot peppers “toughens” your lips and tongue, but not your eyes or mucous membranes.

(Though I suppose if you were repeatedly shot with pepper spray, it would slowly become less painful. I wouldn’t want to try it, though.)

Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.

6

Is it true that getting too much capsaicin in the body causes hallucinations?

7

Yup, I even saw it on TV. I think they were called Guatamalan Insanity Peppers, and the subject had several hallucinations, and even heard Neil Young.

8

Auraseer Quote

“Though I suppose if you were repeatedly shot with pepper spray, it would slowly become less painful. I wouldn’t want to try it, though.”

Kind of half true. My experience in the military with tear gas and sharing stories with friends in law enforcement have led me to conclude:

Tear gas and pepper spray hurt like hell the first time you get hit with it.

They hurt like hell the second time too but you are less likely to panic or double over in pain from the effect.

After several exposures you can keep your composere and function through sheer force of will. It still hurts like hell though.

If someone sprays you point blank in the face and it blasts under your eyelids, you will go down, no matter how many bottles of tobasco you can drink.

Just my personal obvservation, your mileage may vary.

9

I don’t know much about the science of it all, but my 2 cents worth:
“5. If you cut up a hot pepper don’t touch your eye or any other very sensitive part of the body until all the oils are off your hands.” this is true, I have accidentally rubbed my eyes after cutting up chilies and DAMN it stings, pardon my shouting.
“6. Apparently people become conditioned to hot peppers. There are stories of people who can consume the hottest of peppers raw … could, for example, somebody from England, notorious for the lack of spice in its traditional cuisine … quickly become conditioned to a very spicy diet without ill effects?” I cook spicy food often, and I have seen people I have shared flats with become used to the hot spices after a while. As for the English and curry, I think you’d be surprised how high their tolerance is, after all India was once a colony and there is a lot of good curry to be had in England.
“7. Spices, especially hot spices, can disguise spoiled food and repel insects and animals from eating the food.” I have heard this on several occasions as the reason why India developed such spicy food, after all it is a hot country and meat simply won’t keep. However, the amount they spice their foods varies a great deal and in the south it is very mild indeed, certainly not spicy enough to cover the taste of rancid meat. In addition you would still be sick as a pig from eating bad meat, regardless of how heavily it was spiced, so this has more the flavour of an UL. Excuse the pun, I couldn’t resist. :wink:

10

Hot peppers of any variety have no effect on birds.
Mammals, however, are a different story.
Dust your birdseed with red pepper if the squirrels are stealing from your avian buddies.

11

When it comes to respiratory ailments, I crave a Chili’s Buffalo Chicken sandwich with extra hot sauce. It’s the only thing hot enough to open my head enough while not being too spicy to take.

“Damn, it’d be like two days at Disneyland without the kids!” - Comment by a male friend the first time he saw a picture of me and my breasts.

12

As a diehard Card Carrying (#CH1116) ChileHead I can assure you that you can build up a tolerance for cap in your diet and on your skin. But, no matter how many times you do it, getting chile oil in your eye (or better yet on your contacts) will be just as much fun everytime you do it. Rubber gloves will work but surgical gloves work better.

Techically speaking, the burning sensation on your hands after handling peppers is called Hunan Hand (in re the spicy cuisine of a region of China). Getting it in or on other body parts is called, by extension, Hunan Eye, Hunan Nose etc.

Persons of the male persuasion who handle chile peppers and then attend to the call of nature without sufficient forethought may fall victim to the aptly named and intensely entertaining Chile Willie Syndrome. There is apparently a distaff version of this but the general terminology is too profoundly descriptive to post in a public forum.

No, chile peppers will not give you ulcers or other diseases. They will make you sweat. A dose of extremely hot sauce (and Tabasco and Frank’s ain’t very hot on the ChileHead scale)will take your breath away and maybe worse for the uninitiated. A teaspoon of Da Bomb or Backdraft will even send the average CH diving for the ice cream.

Cap will not give you hemerroids but it will make an exisitng case a more notable experience (don’t ask). The “morning after” effect is called Ring of Fire and is metaphorically likened to the Space Shuttle Lift Off. It is a marvel to behold (from a distance).

Cap has numerous medicinal benefits, the most popular being external application for muscle and arthritis pains. It is also a dandy decongestant if you are stuffed up with the flu or allergies. (No dummy, don’t snort it, put it in your chicken soup.)

Chile peppers are not used in tropical countries to disguise spoiled food. Bad meat will kill you just as dead whether you spice it or not. Chile peppers are widely used in tropical countries because they grow best in tropical climates and those cultures had the most time and opportunity to find ways to use them. All chile peppers are native to the Western Hemisphere although they were brought to the Far East by Portuguese and Spanish navigators as early as the 16th Century.

Most Asian Restaurants, particularly Thai and Indian, in the US will not give you their native version of Hot food without a fight. Do not, however, under any circumstances, tell a Thai or Indian chef that “you can’t make it too hot for me”. He can. Trust me.

For endless additional info check out the Ring of Fire Web Ring at: http://chile.netrelief.com/ringoffire.asp

JB
Lex Non Favet Delictorum Votis

13

Spices in general (not necessarily hot) were used to overcome the unpleasant taste of spoiled food in ye olden days. (I am not saying it solved the problem of rancid meat.) That is why the spice trade was such a big deal.

14

Gee, I have only one thing to add to this thread.

You can call it the ring of fire if you want, I’ll stick with my original euphemism… The Lava Shits!

Enright3

15

I’m not sure if this is directly related, but salsa (which is usually hot) is one of the best foods you can eat. as far as a proper diet and stuff.

We’re all here, because we’re not all there!

16

Depressed? Don’t let the bottom fall out of your world, have a vindaloo and let the world fall out of your bottom.

It only hurts when I laugh.

17

My buddy Adam used to consider himself some sort of ultimate chili maven. But he was somewhat humbled after his first visit to a Thai restaurant.

When placing his order, he picked a menu item which was offered with a range of spices (mild, medium, hot). When the waiter asked how spicy he wanted it, my friend of course told him to make it hot.

“Oh, you want it hot?” said the waiter.

Adam replied, “Yeah, I wanna cry! Make this a personal challenge to the chef.”

Boy, was he ever sorry…

Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.

18

A random aside from the TMI department: I’ve never experienced the “ring of fire” or “exit effect” (or whatever you want to call it) from hot foods. After I swallow the stuff, it ceases to cause me any pain.

Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.

19

Okay, few questions here.

1)What, exactly, is a curry? I read one particular fantasy author who is British quite heavily, and one of the foods mentioned repeatedly in his series. (That and the Three Joy Luck Take Away on the site of the old Temple of the Fish God…) I gather that it’s some sort of rice dish, with a hot sauce? With bits of vegetables, peas and such?

2)There’s a scale for measuring the intensity of “heat” generated by peppers. I believe the name starts with a K. Anyone know what it’s called?

3)I’ve seen some family members and restaurants with this (most notably Steak ‘n’ Shake). A bottle, usually with some sort of dispenser on the top, filled with oil and peppers. Is there a specific oil that’s recommended (or a specific pepper) for this? Unfortunately, I never remember to ask the S ‘n’ S people, and my grandparents quit doing it before I started to enjoy hot sauce.

“I’m still here, asshole!”-Angus Bethune

20

Flyp -

I think you’re looking for Scoville Units, the measure of capsaicin level. See this link for a good explanation with examples.
http://www.sammcgees.com/chili/chili-ology.html

Chuck L.

“The intellectuals’ chief cause of anguish are one another’s works.”
Jacques Barzun
Cheers! CAL