Hot spices contain several chemicals that set your mouth on fire. For example, there are capsaicinoids in bell peppers and peppers or piperine in black pepper. Mustard and radishes also contain spicy substances. All these substances have the same effect: when you take a bite, they activate the TRPV1 receptors. “These proteins are located on the surface of your taste buds,” says Martijn. “They are not intended to detect the substances in spicy food, but their purpose is to detect heat. The fact that those receptors are activated by spicy food and send a signal to your brain happens by accident. This gives you a warm feeling in your mouth.”
Heat looks for a way out
That is how your mouth reacts to that ‘heat wave’, but the rest of your body also reacts to spicy stimuli. “The fibers in your nose are activated by the heat, causing your eyes to water. Your blood circulation will also increase, which will give your metabolism a boost and you will start to sweat. Furthermore, your body starts producing the natural painkiller ‘endorphin’. In short: everything is done to get that hot substance out of your body as quickly as possible. The heat tries to find a way out through moisture from tears or sweat.”
Boost for metabolism?
But if our body is so defensive against spicy intruders, is spicy food a good idea? And if it boosts your metabolism, do those spicy substances help you lose weight as some claim? “Studies already show that these spicy substances do not cause any harm,” Martijn continues. “There are a number of scientific studies that even point to a positive effect. Although this often involves administering the active ingredients via supplements.”
For example, eating red pepper is said to help with weight loss by, among other things, stimulating energy consumption and suppressing the feeling of hunger. However, this influence on the feeling of hunger disappears when the person in question starts eating spicy food more often. General health also seems to be improving. Martijn adds: “Spicy food certainly offers a natural helping hand in weight maintenance and loss, but there are of course many processes that play a role in this. You won’t suddenly lose pounds just by eating spicy food. It’s always a both-and story.”
Learning to eat
And what do you do if you can’t handle spicy food? Can you train your tongue to appreciate ‘fiery’ flavors? “No,” Martijn answers. “It is unfortunately a myth that your tongue becomes more tolerant to spicy spices the more you eat them. The perceived heat of the same food may decrease over a short period of time, but this is only temporary. Once the coast is clear again, the sensitive TRPV1 receptors reemerge and the tolerance level becomes the same. But don’t worry, as long as you don’t spend too much on the pepper shaker, regular spicy food will never damage your tongue.”
This article previously appeared on HLN.be.
10 september 2023
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2023-09-10 13:44:39
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