Comments on: Question of the Day: Can Spicy Foods Kill You?

By: MattG

MattG — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:58:00 +0000

I grow Trinidadian Scotch Bonnet peppers. Most Scotch Bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000–350,000 Scoville Units. For comparison most jalapeños have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000.

They are amazing!

By: HeatherDawn

HeatherDawn — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Did anyone read about the “pepper homicides?” People are killing their kids by making them inhale pepper. How jacked up do you have to be to even think of something like that?

By: Kensouke

Kensouke — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:52:25 +0000

One day I went to a Chinese Buffet with my grandma for my birthday. I’m a huge fan of sushi so I got some but added too much wasabi with the soy sauce. My eyes started to tear up my nose started to run and burn like hell and every noise in the Buffet was immediately silenced like I had gone deaf. So in otherwords, I don’t know if you would of killed me if I ate a whole chunk of if I wouldn’t of grabbed my sprite. I think my nose started to bleed too.

By: Farfalla

Farfalla — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:07:53 +0000

I did my HS chemistry project on Capsaicin and there was research suggesting that in cancer patients who had mouth sores from chemotherapy, the “burning” of the hot peppers actually helped them. The peppers whetted their appetites and made their mouth sores less painful. There was even a recipe posted for the cayenne pepper caramel candies used in the study. It’s actually really good and now “spicy caramels” are a holiday tradition for my family!

By: Skip Harrington

Skip Harrington — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:44:08 +0000

When I was about 15 years old, my father took me out late one night to an all-night resturant in Dallas. It was known for its great Mexican Plates. And Hot Jalepenos. Two Cops sat down at the next table and both ordered the “Special”. It came, and one cop tolod his pal to go easy on the pepper as it was very HOT. Well the buddy didn’t listen, and plopped the whole pepper in his mouth ! His gasps and facial contortions along with repeted demands for more water were funny to the extreme. More so because it was a small dining room and everyone heard this go down. The cop was so embarrased that he got up and left !!

By: Lalita

Lalita — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:40:24 +0000

Spicy foods may not kill you outright, but they may leave you wishing you were dead long after the mouth-burn is gone.

By: Iris

Iris — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:03:46 +0000

Anyone remember that college student who died after the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the pennant in 2004? She was hit in the eye with pepper spray when police tried to break up the riot. Non-lethal, my ass.

By: gibson8tor

gibson8tor — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:28:42 +0000

There’s this book called “Why Some Like It Hot” (I don’t remember the author) that I read for an anthropology course. Basically, it deals with how people and the food we eat have co-evolved, and how this relationship provides survival benefits. Chilies and other spices retard bacterial growth, and if you graph out spiciness of food compared to warmth of climate (food spoils faster in warm places) there’s a direct relationship. It’s a pretty interesting book, and talks about lots of other foods as well.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:29:20 +0000

I love my Mom. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet, but she’s not a cook. Just as an example, one of her specialties was a meal called “glunk” it consisted of brown rice, cheese, and cream of mushroom soup… Consequently my father and I became fans of adding spices and lots of em to our food. While eating hot chilis has lots of benefits (very good for allergies), the downside is that you get sort of immune to lesser levels of heat, and now only habaneros can make me sweat. And if I cook for my friends or kids I have to have someone else taste it along the way, to make sure its not so hot that I’m the only one who would enjoy it.

By: TerryS

TerryS — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:08:19 +0000

I just had a tooth extracted and was told not to eat any spicy foods during the healing period – seems that the natural healing process is not as effective (blood doesn’t congeal easily with spice around).