Spicy is perceived by the same receptors as the feelings hot and/or pain. But is this just some “trickery” of the receptors or does spicy food do actual damage? And if it doesn’t do actual damage: Why do people sometimes still throw up because of it (if it was too much)?
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So, what happens with spicy food is that the capsaicin caused the touch receptors in your mouth to become confused and think that they sensing extreme heat. But they are not, so no damage is done. But your body responds in the same way (sweating etc)
– _”The answer hinges on the fact that spicy foods excite the receptors in the skin that normally respond to heat… …They respond to temperature extremes… …The central nervous system can be confused or fooled when these pain fibers are stimulated by a chemical, like that in chile peppers, which triggers an ambiguous neural response.”_
[Scientific American dot Com](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-it-that-eating-spi/)
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