eli5 What happens biologically when we become accustomed to spicy food?

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My wife can swear that her mouth is on fire after eating certain foods, but when I try the same exact food I often barely detect the heat she’s talking about.
I wasn’t always like this, it was an acquired taste. Sweet chilli used to be hot to me, now I dabble with habanero, naga, etc so I know something has changed physiologically…what was it?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Taste buds change and you lose some bitter ones over time. Thats why beer and vegetables are reprehensible to children and tasty when you’re older. The evolutionary reason is that children are more sensitive to things that can be poisons (bitter) and older animals are less able to compete for the best food, so they are enabled to try eating weirder stuff by their taste buds being more forgiving.

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