This guy ate a super hot pepper and after ingesting it, he started to hiccup. Is it the pepper (or the heat therein) that caused him to do that? (If so, why?) Or is it just because he “inhaled” the pepper?
same thing happens to me. I don’t know why. For some reason it’s only when actually eating a raw pepper; even a jalapeno will do this to me. if it’s just a tremendously spicy dish, I won’t get hiccups.
For me, any hot and spicy dish does it. Spanish rice, Thai curry, even generic take-out Kung Pao chicken, or 7-11 Buffalo Chicken rollers. i.e., only “hot” to a Yank! Hiccup uncontrollably. And…go back for more! Yum!
I’ve got 3 friends that like spicy foods.
One sweats, the next get tremors and the third get the hiccups.
It’s like my meals come with their own floor show.
This happens to me occasionally. I believe the spicy food is stimulating the vagus nerve (innervates the esophagus). I have gastroesphageal reflux; esophageal wall inflammation due to reflux probably enhances this mechanism.
Vagus nerve stimulation can also cure hiccups. This is the proposed mechanism for cures involving swallowing a spoonful of granular sugar or salt (yuch!). I chew an antacid tablet into coarse chunks and swallow that- it works well and helps the reflux, too. I now take an acid blocker and I have this symptom much less frequently.
I’ve heard there’s no explanation for hiccups, but my theory is that hiccups are a primitive mechanism to expel or dislodge food that causes a negative reaction in the body.
It is thought to be a vestigial reflex related to amphibian (tadpole) breathing.