By Linda Luo
Taste is arguably the most underrated sense of the five senses. Everyone has a favourite taste; whether it’s the strong bitter taste of coffee, the sweetness of chocolate, the salty taste of fries, or the sourness of pickles. However, none of those tastes truly connect with us on a physical level. But, when you eat something spicy, the inside of your mouth can feel like its on burning. Today, we’re going to explore taste, how that burning sensation occurs, and the possible ways one can die after eating spicy foods. Warning: This is going to be one heck of a hot article.
How does taste work?
Taste, also known as gustation is a two-staged chemical reaction involving our mouths, throats and noses. Tastebuds are spread out all over the tongue, the roof of the mouth and the throat inside tiny pockets that are behind the stratified squamous epithelial cells which is under a layer of papillae. Each bud can have up to one hundred taste receptors that register and respond to different molecules in the mouth. One of the two types of receptor cells called gustatory cells is in charge of the tasting by having a gustatory hair protrude out of a taste pore which covers the surface of the tongue. As food enters the mouth, chemicals called tastants (which are chemical molecules that stimulate the sense of taste) dissolve into saliva and are distributed through the taste pores. Eventually, these chemicals cling onto the gustatory cells which can trigger a different action depending on the taste. In humans, chemoreceptors can detect 5 tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and savoury. Depending on the taste, the gustatory cells would then send a message through neurons which relays the signal to the gustatory cortex in the brain, where the taste is registered.
So what does that have to do with spice?
According to the director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University, even the world’s spiciest peppers won’t kill your tastebuds. Then, what is that painful, numbing, burning sensation that everyone gets when they eat something too spicy? Apparently, a chemical in peppers called capsaicin creates the burning sensation and the numbness is just a protective mechanism the body creates to dull the overwhelming amount of pain one would experience otherwise.
Does this mean we can’t actually get hurt from peppers?
Don’t just take the fact that your tastebuds can’t die from spiciness as a go-ahead and splurge on all the spice you can. Just because peppers can’t kill tastebuds doesn’t mean it can’t kill you. Of the many ways to die, peppers can cause quite a few. Not only can peppers be so hot that a human can receive burns comparable to those on the victims of fires, but the burns usually happen inside the throat and can cause the victim to asphyxiate. In addition, chilli peppers can also activate the sympathetic nervous system, which is like a flood of hormones that forces most of the body’s internal organs to deplete more energy. As a result, the internal organs can overwork and cause internal bleeding so severe it can be lethal if not treated in time. There are countless ways one could possibly die from consuming something too spicy, seen from records all over the world of near-death situations. In certain parts of China, multiple cases can be reported every year from the same hospitals, the most common being internal bleeding, choking on vomit, and fainting from pure pain. To conclude, one can’t die from the taste itself, but the human body can certainly fail to take in massive amounts of capsaicin in chilli peppers.
Glossary:
Asphyxiate – to become deprived of oxygen as a result of abnormal breathing
Papillae – small bumps on the side and top of your tongue that contain tastebuds and temperature sensors. Gives your tongue a rough, bumpy structure.
Stratified squamous epithelial cells – thin, flat cells that make up the mucous membrane of the oral cavity.
Photo credits: Priscilla Du Preez, Payoon Gerinto