What in capsaicin makes it spicy/hot? What element the chemical make up makes it act like it does?
In: Other
Capsaicin itself isn’t hot. It’s an irritant, designed to make whoever ingests it very uncomfortable and not do it again. Our bodies, because they’re a mess of “good enough” systems, interpret this irritating sensation as being akin to heat.
Why we like it so much is because our bodies release natural painkillers to try and subdue it. So we associate the mild discomfort of the irritant with a rush of endorphins.
Fun fact: birds are immune to capsaicin. This is because birds don’t digest the seeds of the peppers, instead they eat the flesh and the seeds pass through and get scattered to sow new plants. The plants are “happy” for this to happen as this is pretty much the point of fruit flesh & seeds. The irritant is a warning to mammals to say “hey, you’re gonna kill my seeds. Stop eating me.”
Capsaicin acts on the receptor TRPV1, which can detect high temperatures and acidic conditions (among other things) and triggers a sensation of heat and pain when it does. Capsaicin is neither of those things, but because it can get the receptor to activate, it triggers these effects regardless.
So plants over the millennia have evolved capsaicin. This chemical was developed to prevent chewing mammals from eating their seeds (offspring’s).
Capsaicin is like a hacker, when it touches your nervous system when you eat it (tongue receptors) it basically hacks your nerves and triggers all the alarm bells your nerves have and they send these alarms to the brain.
Because of if these “alarms going on” the brain gets confused so it gets interpreted as pain or as heat or similar unpleasant sensations.
But if you measure temperature or inspect for bruises you’ll find nothing out of the ordinary, because basically capsaicin all it did was trigger all these alarms without really burning or bruising you.
Okay, imagine tiny little ninjas in your mouth. When you eat something spicy, like a chili pepper, these ninjas called capsaicin jump onto your tongue and start tickling it. That tickling feeling is what makes it spicy! Capsaicin is like the boss ninja that tells the other ninjas to tickle your tongue really hard. It’s a special chemical that tricks your tongue into feeling like it’s on fire, even though it’s not really hot. So, capsaicin is like a sneaky ninja making your food spicy!
Latest Answers