Can the Hottest Peppers In the World Kill You? 337
Hugh Pickens writes "Katharine Gammon writes that last week, the Kismot Indian restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, held a competition to eat the extra-hot Kismot Killer curry and several ambulances were called after some of the competitive eaters were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting. Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute, says that chili peppers can indeed cause death — but most people's bodies would falter long before they reached that point. 'Theoretically, one could eat enough really hot chiles to kill you,' says Bosland adding that a research study in 1980 calculated that three pounds of the hottest peppers in the world — something like the Bhut Jolokia — eaten all at once could kill a 150-pound person. Chili peppers cause the eater's insides to rev up, activating the sympathetic nervous system — which helps control most of the body's internal organs — to expend more energy, so the body burns more calories when the same food is eaten with chili peppers. But tissue inflammation could explain why the contestants in the Killer Curry contest said they felt like chainsaws were ripping through their insides. As for the contest, restaurant owner Abdul Ali admitted the fiery dish may have been too spicy after the Scottish Ambulance Service warned him to review his event. 'I think we'll tone it down, but we'll definitely do it next year.'"
Water can kill you too (Score:5, Informative)
It may take more than 3 pounds, but if you drink enough water fast enough you get water toxicity.
In other words, this is "not news."
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I think we need some proof here. You should record yourself inhaling a few tablespoons of salt water and post the video to YouTube.
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3 Pounds of chillies dropped from a hight exceeding 250m...
Re:Water can kill you too (Score:4, Informative)
Not if you are eating the peppers in curry. Curry has lots of salt. Water kills by draining the sodium out of your body.
However, if you are having chili mouth problems, the antidote is fat not water. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili is an oil. Eat butter, drink oil, a high butterfat ice cream might work also.
Re:Water can kill you too (Score:4, Interesting)
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I don't think water does much to counteract spicy food (including hot chilis). A glass of milk would work better.
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Apparently, the 'hotness' in chilis is oil based so water doesn't do all that much but spread it around your mouth and throat more. You're better off with things like milk or bread. Some say beer and tequila help too, but I wouldn't know why that is.
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I'd believe it... (Score:2)
I know if I eat enough scotch bonnets I start to get a sort of tingling sensation in my fingers. Makes sense that if you ramp it up enough it would kill someone.
Re:I'd believe it... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I'd believe it... (Score:5, Informative)
It's always been a mystery to me why I can eat and enjoy something so toxic that I have to wear rubber gloves to prepare them.
Endorphins.
Mystery solved.
The chemical that causes the heat sensation also triggers endorphins. So pleasure is experienced.
Toxic?.. Not sure about that. Irritant definitely. The juice on your fingers can lead to unpleasant side effects, depending where you touch.. But hardly deadly, unless you are eating some kind of concentrated industrial strength chilli. And realistically.. The super hot chills are not really intended for direct human consumption.
Re:I'd believe it... (Score:5, Informative)
Toxic?.. Not sure about that.
Capsaicin is in fact a neurotoxin. Prolonged exposure to it leads to excessive Ca++ influx, and excitoxicity. Of couse, we're talking about capsaicin applied directly to neurons in a dish here, how physiologically relevant this is is debatable.
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It's always been a mystery to me why I can eat and enjoy something so toxic that I have to wear rubber gloves to prepare them.
Think of raw salmonella dipped chicken before you grill or fry it. Practically any raw meat, for that matter, including fish.
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What is wrong with raw fish? Or most other meat for that matter?
I have eaten lots of raw fish served on little pillows of rice and even more rare/medium rare meats.
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What is wrong with raw fish? Or most other meat for that matter?
Parasites. Tape worms from beef, trichinosis from pork, and I'm sure there are others.
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It's a cheap high ;p
Peppers cause pain, brain releases natural pain killers.. gives you that mellowed out relaxed feeling that is always strangely contradictory.
Eating peppers slightly beyond your tolerance where you still enjoy the food but get just the right amount of burn is highly enjoyable. Eating peppers way beyond your tolerance serves no purpose beyond being able to say you did it (which I'll admit I'm guilty of on occasion).
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I once cut some habeneros up and then took a piss, that was painful. Since then I have learned to use latex gloves when preparing peppers.
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No, the juice from such peppers will burn most tender skin. Go try it, cut one in half and rub in on your dick.
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there is nothing to soak the spices and they hit you hard when you eat them raw!
I've noticed that chili peppers in particular seem to impart their flavours on other things. If I cut up a chili pepper on a board, quickly rinse the board, then cut up a tomato on the same board... the tomato tastes like a chili pepper. Doesn't seem to happen with most other peppers.
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Tried it... I started to get dizzy and chickened out (fearing actual bodily harm)... then felt terrible for like the rest of the day ;p
LD50? (Score:5, Informative)
According to it's MSDS, capsaicin has an LD50 (lethal dose to 50% of pop'n) of 47.2 mg/kg when taken orally. So, for a 70kg person, 3.2 grams of pure capsaicin should be lethal about 50% of the time... This isn't anything new, the data has been published for a long time.
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I'm willing to wager that they used pure capsaicin crystals to spike the curry, and not just Bhut Jolokias.
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Technically, it's that if you randomly selected a person from the population at large and gave them 47.2 mg/kg body weight of capsaicin, it would have a 50% chance of killing them.
Re:LD50? (Score:5, Insightful)
But seriously anything with an MSDS sheet that contains an LD50 should never be eaten.
Seriously? How do you live without ingesting water (LD50 90 mL/kg):
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321 [sciencelab.com]
Or table salt? (LD50 3000 mg/kg)
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927593 [sciencelab.com]
What about sugar? (LD50 29700 mg/kg)
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927285 [sciencelab.com]
Or caffeine? (LD50 192 mg/kg)
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927475 [sciencelab.com]
Enough of just about ANYTHING can cause serious problems if ingested. The presence of an LD50 on an MSDS sheet means nothing if you don't bother to understand exactly what it means in the real world.
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How many Bothans died getting this information?
About 1000 rabbits.
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But is capsaicin the active ingredient in all 'hot' dishes or are there others?
Yes. But more seriously, capsaicin [wikimedia.org] is what makes spicy food spicy, or rather all capsaicinoids are what make spicy food spicy.
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Re:LD50? (Score:4, Informative)
Correct - black pepper relies on "piperine" which is partially soluble in water (more-so in alcohol). Quick drink of water and you're fine. Horseradish and mustard rely on yet another chemical, but still water soluble.
Capsaicin, OTOH, is fat-soluble. It usually takes an oil-heavy food or drink to take away some of the heat. Many people recommend milk, but I've found that cheese works better.
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The scoville scale does not work that way. It is not a measure of amount of capsaicin. It is a measure of heat/spicy based on human perception.
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Actually it's a masure of dilution before the item is rendered undetectable.
So if pure capciacin is 15M, it means you need it something on the order of 67ppb before it's undetectable. Peppers have much lower levels, plus with extra proteins and such that make the kick much lower. And since peppers by themselves isn't a terribly fun eat, it's diluted even more by eating other foods.
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... about 15 grams of habanero may be a lethal doze.
If that's a lethal "doze" maybe they should be using them to administer the death penalty.
0.36 mg per gram capsaicin (Score:3)
Re:LD50? (Score:5, Informative)
No. The Scoville scale is not linear because it's based solely on human senses (which tend to be logarithmic).
So Bhut Jolokia may have 1/16th the Scoville Units but that does not necessarily translate to 1/16th the capsaicin content.
Actually, the Scoville scale is linear, because it is based on amount of dilution required before the flavour is not detectable (which removes the nonlinearity of human sensation).
1ppm capsaicin = 1 ASTA pungency unit. The conversion from there to Scovilles is explained in TFA, if you actually bothered reading it, but it *is* linear.
WTF? (Score:2)
a) there are _lots_ of things you can eat to kill yourself.
b) what is the point of this "research"?
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Interesting medical background to an amusing news story. It's not "research", it's news.
and then comes the fun part (Score:4, Funny)
Re:and then comes the fun part (Score:4, Funny)
.. to the soundtrack of Jonny Cash singing "Ring of Fire"
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...or the 1812 Overture...
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Re:and then comes the fun part (Score:4, Informative)
Hmm - I think you're "eating" them wrong.
In your face, Space Coyote! (Score:2)
Well I know that they may induce hallucinations of Johnny Cash telling you to find your soul mate.
That which doesn't kill you (Score:3, Informative)
Slowly saps your will to live.
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Or leaves horrible scars that you can pick at later.
Yes, yes they can (Score:3)
Given a sufficient quantity dropped on you or were fired at you at extreme velocity.
Sadly the chili pepper gun is a long way from becoming useful enough for pithy action movie hero comments "What's th' matter? Heartburn?"
Taken to the extreme (Score:2)
I understand the "look how tough I am, I can eat this spicy stuff" mentality to some extent, but who seriously takes it to the extreme of downing things that eat holes in your stomach and cause you to be hospitalized?
Re:Taken to the extreme (Score:5, Informative)
Some people actually enjoy spicy food, it is not about toughness at all. Peppers will not eat a hole in your stomach, that is an old wives tale. Capsaicin just interacts with your sensory neurons and makes them respond as though they were being burned, no real damage is done.
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The endorphin rush can be quite something to experience too.
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It is true about the thrill chase though. Jalapenos used to be hot to me when I was a kid. Now, to get any sort of mild reaction I will need at least Habaneros, preferably red savina, or bhut jolokia. I usually cut some fresh jolokia into my curries, and I use a red savina sauce on my pasta/pizza lunch food.
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Anything other than anecdotes to back that up?
My first guess would be you consume more liquids or fats when eating hot foods and that is what is causing your issues.
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Overblown reporting, as usual. (Score:5, Informative)
Secondly, 'several ambulances'? People 'writhing on the floor, fainting and vomiting'? Here's what actually happened:
Restaurant holds a curry-eating competition. Top of the list in the later rounds is the 'Kismot Killer', a curry that recently replaced a naga-based one, as too many people were finishing it easily. Anyway, if you order a killer, the restaurant staff will do everything in their power to put you off - there's warnings all over the place and you have to sign a disclaimer before eating it. If you *really* insist on eating the damn thing, you can't say you weren't warned. But anyway. So two people get to the later stages (one American, FWIW) and one of them has the bright idea of vomiting immediately after eating so as to avoid the after-effects. The other continues eating *despite being in pain and feeling faint*. I mean, seriously? So despite having the red cross present (it was a charity event), they got an ambulance to take these two to hospital for safety. The hospital gave them strong anti-indigestion medication and kicked them out.
Short version - idiots did idiotic things, complained that they shouldn't have to have any personal responsibility when the inevitable happened.
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Furthermore, they should be charged for their time in the hospital, because it was idiotic, informed, and self inflicted.
Theres a dangerous road to go down, since that could be 3/4 of the people hospitalized, at least to some interpretation of idiotic, informed, and self inflicted.
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I participated in a contest where we were given wings made with a very hot bhut jolokia sauce (included habaneros and dried jolokias as well as other stuff). I had eaten 10 of the wings before in one sitting and while I had mild discomfort (and slightly more the next day) I had no serious side internal/external effects.
However, when I ate 20 in one sitting (in 10 minutes) I went home and hours later found myself writhing in pain, having severe abdominal discomfort and thought about heading to the ER on more
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Indeed, I read TFA, and what a load of wasted words. The only reference to the actual event in the article is:
Lethal dose vs. lethal? (Score:3)
While the method of dying described sounds nice n all, I thought the actual danger was from asphyxiation when digesting Bhut Jolokia ( I grow those suckers myself); when strong enough chili has been digested it will often cause uncontrollable hiccups (capsacin will irritate the thingiemagic that does your breathing, causing it to cramp, which I've been told, could be enough to kill you).
The lethal dose is whats required to overload your system and die from poison (sort of like drinking too much water?) and the lack of oxygen is akin to trying to breath water or have I've just had me leg pulled?
Re:Lethal dose vs. lethal? (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know about Indian cuisine but in Mexico we don't brag about how impossibly hot a dish is.
Chile is used as an additional condiment and is never the main focus of the meal... Mexicans know when something needs to be spiced up to make it taste better, enough to make you salivate just by smelling it and make it perfect. That hot spicy sensation is addictive and a good source of endorphins... It is never a goal to make it impossible to swallow, give you cramps and make you faint.
Pinches gringos locos....
Re:Lethal dose vs. lethal? (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know about Indian cuisine but in Mexico we don't brag about how impossibly hot a dish is.
Chile is used as an additional condiment and is never the main focus of the meal... Mexicans know when something needs to be spiced up to make it taste better, enough to make you salivate just by smelling it and make it perfect. That hot spicy sensation is addictive and a good source of endorphins... It is never a goal to make it impossible to swallow, give you cramps and make you faint.
Pinches gringos locos....
Indians don't brag about the heat levels of their food as well. I would like to dispel some myths about Indian food here:
- Firstly, there is nothing called Indian food. India is an agglomeration of about 50-100 or so cultures, a bit like Europe. Each culture has its own history, language or dialect, culture, and most importantly, food. While culture has changed or diluted over time, food habits have not changed much. Anyone who talks about "Indian curry" is as incorrect as someone who talks about "European soup".
- Indian food by and large is not super-spicy to begin with. Home cooked food in India is usually mild and often a bit overcooked. Yes, certain cuisines such as Kolhapuri or Sahuji is known for being hotter. Even then, this is usually hype promoted by restaurants as a publicity stunt. While restaurants often label their dish "kolhapuri chicken" by adding 5 extra red chiles, authentic Kolhapuri food is not cooked this way
- Indian food, unlike many other cuisines, is very flavorful and aromatic and a typical dish will consist of numerous spices and herbs. Perhaps, this is because India is the birthplace of most herbs and spices (maybe not most, South America kicks ass too). Indian flavor is usually multi-dimensional and layered - heat is just one component. A really well made Indian dish (such as a "curry") will usually be hot, sour, salty, and a bit sweet at the same time. Mostly not bitter, but sometimes bitter too, especially in dishes such as bitter gourd curry. Bottom-line - spicy does not mean hot, it means full of spice, and each spice has a different flavor and aroma. This is the whole point of mixing multiple spices, or using pre-mixed spices ("garam masala", "panch phoran", etc.)
- Chile is also often an extra condiment in Indian cuisine as well - a typical Indian dish will consist of plain rice or wheat bread with a somewhat mild curry, a slightly spicier dry vegetable or meat, salad ("kachumbar") or yogurt based sauce to provide relief for the spice ("raita"). It is also usually accompanied by one or more chutneys that can range from fiery hot to minty cool, and by one or more pickles again ranging from fiery hot to sweet and tangy. The chutneys and pickles are meant to provide additional heat for people who like more heat in their food. There are several dozens, even hundreds, of pickles and chutneys. Note that Indian pickles are much more complex and flavourful compared to pickle popular in many other parts which is usually made with vegetables preserved in vinegar and salt. Indian pickles are usually pickled in a variety of oils.
- This whole thing of eating really hot food is really just a sport, the need for some people to turn anything into a competitive sport. Then, there are hotels like this one cashing in on this whole thing to get more publicity.
- With all due respect, Mexican food is delicious and very fresh and complex, but you cannot compare it with a country where you have hundreds of parallel food cultures all running back several thousands of years. You can probably compare Mexico to a specific Indian state, but that's about it. Comparing India to South America would be more accurate.
Before this becomes a flame war, please note: I'm not trying to put down down Mexico or say that India is better or worse. Just saying that the complexity of Mexican culture and food is comparable to the complexity of the culture and food of an Indian state - in terms of population, size, history, and complexity
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While you are up on that pedestal lecturing everyone about making assumptions about "Indian" food maybe you shouldn't be making assumptions about "Mexican" food.
Is there or isn't there? (Score:3)
Hmm... you say there is no such thing as "Indian food," then you go on to use that exact phrase two more times.
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Serves them right (Score:2)
I've never understood the attraction of eating chillies. It hurts (or is that just me?) so whats pleasant about it? Or is it just macho i-can-eat-more-than-you BS? Is it the same sort of people who do it who visit S&M dungeons because they like the pain?
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Depends on one's perspective (Score:5, Funny)
For those of you who have lived in Texas, you know how true this is. They actually have a Chili cook-off about the time the rodeo comes to town. It takes up a major portion of the parking lot at the Astrodome.The notes are from an inexperienced chili taster named Frank, who was visiting Texas from the East Coast:
"Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking directions to the Budweiser truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (Native Texans) that the chili wouldn't be all that spicy and, besides, They told me I could have free beer during the tasting, So I accepted."Here are the scorecards from the event:
Chili # 1 Mike's Maniac Mobster Monster Chili
Judge # 1-- A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.
Judge # 2-- Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild
Judge # 3-- (Frank) Holy shit, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me
two beers to put the flames out. I hope that's the worst one. These Texans are crazy.
Chili # 2 Arthur's Afterburner Chili
Judge # 1 -- Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.
Judge # 2 -- Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Judge # 3 -- Keep this out of the reach of children. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave
off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw
the look on my face.
Chili # 3 Fred's Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili
Judge # 1 -- Excellent firehouse chili. Great kick. Needs more beans.
Judge # 2 -- A bean-less chili, a bit salty, good use of peppers
Judge # 3 -- Call the EPA. I've located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows
the routine by now. Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone
is in the front part of my chest. I'm getting shit-faced from all of the beer.
Chili # 4 Bubba's Black Magic
Judge # 1 -- Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.
Judge # 2 -- Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili.
Judge # 3 -- I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds?
Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. That 300-lb.bitch is starting to look HOT -- just
like this nuclear waste I'm eating. Is chili an aphrodisiac?
Chili # 5 Linda's Legal Lip Remover
Judge # 1 -- Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.
Judge # 2 -- Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.
Judge # 3 -- My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four
people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chili had
given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher.
I wonder if I'm burning my lips off. It really pisses me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming.
Screw those rednecks.
Chili # 6 Vera's Very Vegetarian Variety
Judge # 1 -- Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spices and peppers.
Judge # 2 -- The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic. Superb.
Judge # 3 -- My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulfuric flames. I shit on myself when I farted and I'm
worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that slut Sally. She
must be kinkier than I thought. Can't feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my ass with a snow cone.
Chili # 7 Susan's Screaming Sensation Chili
Judge # 1 -- A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers
. Judge # 2 -- Ho hum, t
Capsacin (Score:3)
My lab used to study that before I started working here. Of course, we are talking super high doses, basically pure capsaicin. Peppers just aren't going to do it by themselves. As noted above, they have other health benefits, so no-one should really worry about toxicity, as the heat stops most people long before they could ever get to that point.
What in the world could have caused that? (Score:2)
some of the competitive eaters were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting.
Meanwhile at a seemingly unrelated event for ball-peen-hammer-head-bangers a few blocks away, some were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting after pummeling their skullcaps with their 16 pound hammers.
Aren't their Darwin awards for this type of behavior?
Chainsaws and tactical nukes (Score:2)
But tissue inflammation could explain why the contestants in the Killer Curry contest said they felt like chainsaws were ripping through their insides.
Just wait until they take a crap the next day. I know when I eat really spicy food (habanero and hotter) it feels like I am crapping a tactical nuke that is going off in my ass.
Chili peppers as a dieting aid? (Score:2)
Chili peppers cause the eater's insides to rev up, activating the sympathetic nervous system â" which helps control most of the body's internal organs â" to expend more energy, so the body burns more calories when the same food is eaten with chili peppers.
To me, this was the most interesting part of the article. If chili peppers cause an increase in the rate of burning calories, it seems like they'd be quite useful to dieters. For those who don't have a taste for spicy foods, might capsules full
I like spicy food, but... (Score:2)
at what point do people say, "hey, this isn't an interesting and enjoyable dining experience. This is pure masochism."?
There's a fine line between badass and dumbass. (Score:3)
"Half of the 20 people who took part in the challenge dropped out after witnessing the first diners vomiting, collapsing, sweating and panting."
WHO THE HELL ARE THESE OTHER TEN PEOPLE?
Re:There's a fine line between badass and dumbass. (Score:4, Funny)
What the hell is a blister agent?
well, for the purposes of this thread, a blister agent is anything that can neutralize capsaicin, which is the substance in chili peppers that gives them their characteristic "heat." I use good ol' NaHCO3, aka bicarb, in chile eating contests, because I can suspend a decent concentration in my beer before an impromptu chili eating contest, and take a swig every couple of bites. Works like a charm, honestly. Even in more formally proctored contests, I down 60g dissolved in 500ml of water before I even head to the venue. I regurgitate it surreptitiously while downing the hot wings, or peppers, or whatever capsaicin-bearing food is the object of the contest. Pretending to struggle to swallow the food because of the heat is all the cover I usually need while inducing my own gag reflex. I've been caught out a couple of times, usually by pre-med students or their MD parents, but hey, you can't fool all of the people all of the time... :)
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And you do this to yourself ... why, exactly?
Re:Warning from the ambulance service? (Score:4, Insightful)
Could have just been a "or you might kill someone" warning and not a "or we'll convene the ambulance committee and have you ambulanced to death" warning.
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You are not allowed to endanger the lives of others by your actions or carelessness. The fact that the peppers are offered on by a restaurant may provide the illusion of safety where there is none. If you have a patron sustaining injury by something you have served him when you could reasonably foresee the damage done than you may be liable.
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I have eaten Ghost peppers straight. What is safe for one person may not be for another, does that mean no restaurant can provide food I would consider spicy since it might hurt someone else?
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Applying common sense helps, that's the "reasonably foresee" part. When you have a situation like this in your restaurant : "Half of the 20 people who took part in the challenge dropped out after witnessing the first 10 diners vomiting, collapsing, sweating and panting." you likely did not entirely think it through.
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Sweating and panting are normal responses, fainting is a bit unusual common for folks who should not be doing that. Vomiting it the only one that to me signals a problem. I wonder how much this is being hyped for shock value, or if this restaurant owner hired folks to fake it.
Hot food is often way over hyped, look at the Quaker Steak and Lube atomic sauce, it is just tabasco and some habeneros. That stuff is only 150k scoville. Lots of hot sauces are hotter. Even many natural peppers are hotter.
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I like to sweat and pant as much as the next guy, not when I'm eating though :-)
Probably a good call on the restaurant owner faking/exagerating it.
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There's a difference between serving up a food grenade to a patron on request, and encouraging people to commit gastronomic self-harm through an organised contest.
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Libertarianism in theory: perfectly informed, rational, able consumers interacting freely for mutual benefit.
Libertarianism in practice: CAVEAT EMPTOR, IDIOTS! MIGHT IS RIGHT!
Hope this helps.
Re:Warning from the ambulance service? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not like a police warning or anything, but if you tie up the ambulance service with the culinary equivalent of a testicle-kicking contest, then they're going to ask you to reconsider your plans. Bear in mind that ambulances are a free service in the UK, there's no disincentive to phoning up an ambulance (as opposed to a taxi) if you incapacitate yourself in a hilariously moronic fashion.
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I told my son that if he ate all the candy he got halloween all in a day he'd feel ill and warned him not to. I guess I'm an evil nanny-statist!
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"Warning" in this case means friendly advice. A formal warning would come from the Environmental Health or Trading Standards departments of Edinburgh City Council, or from the Health and Safety Executive.
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What authority do they have to issue warnings?
They were citizens of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As such, they are allowed to issue all sorts of warnings. For example:
If you don't stop posting silly comments to Slashdot you may be in trouble.
So watch out sunshine.
Re:Warning from the ambulance service? (Score:5, Informative)
In fairness, the article just says the Ambulance Service "warned" them. It doesn't say some sort of formal "warning" was issued under some authority, like the parent post implied; it could've just been the Ambulance Service captain saying "I think this is dangerous."
There are plenty of real examples of Britain's insane nanny-statism without jumping to conclusions.
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Well chillis are not that big, and like other peppers they are hollow on the inside. So you take 10x10 of them put them in a square and stack them 6 high. It could fit on a normal plate. These are also professional eaters so they actually exercise to stretch their stomachs to a larger size. So the volume of 600 chillis isn't impossible. But I wouldn't want to be in the restroom the next day.
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The really hot ones are really small, shriveled-up things. Also, you might want to see how SKINNY some of the winners of "extreme eating" contests are. Does she look fat to you? [wikipedia.org]
Homer Simpson (Score:2)
Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Informative)
There's a scientific scale to measure the strength of Chili peppers - the Scoville scale [wikipedia.org]
The average chili pepper from the supermarket isn't going to do much. You have to specially order the extra spicy ones like the Naga Viper pepper, Infinity Chili or Bhut Jolokai chili pepper, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper.
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Increased rates of stomach cancer have nothing to do with the kimchee being spicy, and everything to do with it being fermented. This is well known and well documented. You find exactly the same thing in other Asian cultures that traditionally have high consumption of fermented (pickled) vegetables.
If spicy food caused stomach cancer, northern India would be a hotbed. It isn't.
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If spicy food caused stomach cancer, northern India would be a hotbed. It isn't.
Southern India has spicier food according to all of my Indian coworkers.
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Boy that's a big pile of steaming shit. Just a couple errors I will respond to, I'll let everyone else point out the rest of the garbage in your post.
Kimchee is fermented cabbage not peppers and it's strong because like most bacterial fermenting processes it produces acid while being fermented.
Coke is acidic enough to eat through it's can, that's why the can is coated with plastic on the inside. Coke is acidic enough to eat through bone. In fact remove the plastic coating and regular grocery store vinegar c