# Spicy food and sweating

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spicy-food-and-sweating/562129>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 28, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spicy-food-and-sweating/562129 "2010-11-28T01:36:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spicy-food-and-sweating/562129/1 "2010-11-28T01:36:09Z")

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Do you sweat when you eat spicy food? More specifically, has anything changed as you get older? I love spicy food. I used to be able to eat very spicy food without breaking a sweat. In recent years, however, I notice that I’ve started sweating when I eat spicy food. I’ve just had curry from a local Indian take-away for dinner. It was very good, and I don’t even think it was particularly spicy, but I was sweating pretty profusely by the end. What is going on? Am I just getting old? ☹

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spicy-food-and-sweating/562129/2 "2010-11-28T02:09:07Z")

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what is wrong with sweating, sniffling and sneezing because of spicy food? those are my gauge it’s hot enough.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spicy-food-and-sweating/562129/3 "2010-11-28T02:29:09Z")

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Exactly. The more the sweat, the better the food.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spicy-food-and-sweating/562129/4 "2010-11-28T02:41:14Z")

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Cecil discussed this, actually.

[Why does eating spicy foods make you sweat?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2417/do-chinese-lack-sweat-glands-in-their-armpits)

It’s called gustatory sweating and is related to salivation, apparently.