How Does Spicy Food Work? Spiciness, Explained With Science

Chili peppers contain a chemical compound called capsaicin that activates pain receptors in your mouth. So why does your brain and body perceive spicy foods as hot?

Watch WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez try foods seasoned with different types of hot peppers to explain the neuroscience behind our subjective and physical experience with spicy food.

0:00 Why is my brain telling me that it’s on fire?
0:42 Capsaicin: the active ingredient in spicy food
0:58 How our brain and body reacts to capsaicin
3:33 Too much spiciness could be dangerous
4:12 Why does milk and dairy help with eating spicy foods?

I’m Daniela Hernandez, a health and science reporter for WSJ, and on this channel I’ll be covering a variety of subjects from neuroscience to the science of food and public health. If you’re interested in science and health and how cutting edge research impacts our lives, don’t forget to subscribe.

#Spicy #Science #DanielaHernandez

[DanielaHernandezWSJ]

What’s the hottest pepper you’ve ever tasted? How did it turn out?

[damedesuka]

I have 2 separate meters for spiciness. One is for regular eating, as in "this is yummy spicy!", so it should be spicy enough but not the point of being painful. The other one is for when I need the spiciness to hurt me lol. I don't know why but eating painful super spicy food can be a bit therapeutic.

[amochswohntet]

Something noticed is that while latin America is known in America as being a spicy food culture, Americans themselves, especially in the southwest like spicy food more than latin americans.
The Northern europeans Ive met had a real aversion to spicy food.
I’m a real south westerner and love spicy food, but I also know how that a lot of people don’t like it, and that it doesn’t necessarily need to be everywhere.

[wokeymcwokeface]

People from South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana eat chilis for literally every single meal! They can go from 30, 000 to 300, 000 on Scoville.

[aamsergie]

There's nothing that gets you more turnt up than ice cold beer and hot crispy spicy things!!!!

[destroyer-frdz]

I just ordered Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin but I know I can’t handle it. Love the pain

[nepj]

We had spicy food nd 10 15 seconds later the spice kicked in and my friend started turning red sweaty, she was shaking nd it was like whole hands became numb. She couldn't eat for 40 min

[michellenegron]

Not always....I developed 2 types of esophagitis bc of too much spicy food

[RupamBhaduriOfficial]

You say eating chilli is painful, I say it's fun. I eat at least 50g of Chilli everyday throughout the day.

[phillialevine]

But does it release also serotonins? My hottest food I have eaten was 2x spicy ramen from Samyang. Whenever I’m stressed I eat spicy food, why?

[dannygavin]

Carolina reaper fresh. It hurt. Almost more than my lung collapsing.

[ChaneVazquez-rxdy]

So our tongues are being mildly electrocuted?😮