WEBVTT - Does Spicy Food Burn Your Tastebuds?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Volga bomb here. Spiciness is a very personal preference.

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<v Speaker 1>Some like their food hot, some like it even hotter,

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<v Speaker 1>and some won't even start to chow down until they've

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<v Speaker 1>slopped on the saracha, piled on the halapenos, and laid

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<v Speaker 1>on enough horseradish too literally bring tears to their eyes,

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<v Speaker 1>which practically begs the question, what's wrong with those people?

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<v Speaker 1>Do these folks actually enjoy watering eyes, as searing tongue

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<v Speaker 1>and a runny nose at the dinner table? But more alarmingly,

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<v Speaker 1>one might wonder are they setting themselves up for everything

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<v Speaker 1>else to taste extra bland? Can spicy food burn out

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<v Speaker 1>your taste buds? Robin Dando studies exactly these types of

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<v Speaker 1>questions and Assistant professor in the Department of Food Science

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<v Speaker 1>at Cornell, Dando has spent his albeit still young career

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<v Speaker 1>studying how our bodies interact with the food that we

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<v Speaker 1>consume and what comes to spicy foods in our bodies.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a tricky one when you put a spicy food

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<v Speaker 1>in your mouth, whether it's a halopeno or whatever is

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<v Speaker 1>in that five alarm chili you just ordered. You're often

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<v Speaker 1>ingesting a chemical compound found in peppers called cap sasin.

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<v Speaker 1>Kept saysin interacts with receptors in your mouth, which immediately

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<v Speaker 1>send a signal to your brain. The signal goes something

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<v Speaker 1>like this, fire, fire, hot, hot, hot fire. It's not

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<v Speaker 1>some joke that your mouth is playing on your brain,

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<v Speaker 1>or not quite. The receptors in your mouth react to

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<v Speaker 1>the cap says in the same way they would if

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<v Speaker 1>there were an actual fire on your tongue. That's why

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<v Speaker 1>the brain, which takes these things quite literally sets off

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<v Speaker 1>your body's sprinkler system. Your heart starts racing, firing up

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<v Speaker 1>that fight or flight mechanism. Your blood rushes to the

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<v Speaker 1>skin surface to cool things down. You start to salivate,

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<v Speaker 1>Your nose may start to run. For some people, this

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<v Speaker 1>is considered fun. It's a culinary experience. They can't get

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<v Speaker 1>enough of it. For those who prefer more subtle tastes

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<v Speaker 1>and dry eyes, the whole idea of two spicy foods

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<v Speaker 1>maybe difficult to comprehend, but too many spicy food lovers

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<v Speaker 1>it's the hotter the better. Although it may seem like

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<v Speaker 1>a fifty shades of red kind of thing. Dando says

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<v Speaker 1>that people who eat extremely spicy foods often do it

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<v Speaker 1>because they have to in order to get the experience.

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<v Speaker 1>That's because spicy food connosours probably build up a tolerance

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<v Speaker 1>to spiciness. Dando said, there's some pretty strong evidence that

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<v Speaker 1>suggests that you can, we would call it desensitization. Simply

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<v Speaker 1>being exposed to something constantly, you start to build up

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<v Speaker 1>a tolerance to it. Physically speaking, desensitization can act at

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<v Speaker 1>the nerve, at the receptor, or in the brain. Dando explains. Essentially,

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<v Speaker 1>if you're stimulating a nerve a lot, it can become

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<v Speaker 1>less responsive with kepsays, and in particular, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>neurotransmitters responsible for signaling pain to the brain can become

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<v Speaker 1>depleted easily. Likewise, a cell can reprogram to express fewer

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<v Speaker 1>of its receptors if they're frequently in use. And finally,

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<v Speaker 1>the brain can basically turn down the volume of a

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<v Speaker 1>signal in the short term. It's like how if you

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<v Speaker 1>get in cold water at the beach. It's intensely cold,

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<v Speaker 1>but in a minute or so it doesn't feel so frigid.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've ever been a spicy food fanatic, you may

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<v Speaker 1>have wondered what year after year of all of that

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<v Speaker 1>fiery goodness may be doing to your taste buds. For sure,

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<v Speaker 1>spicy foods can get to some people. They've been associated

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<v Speaker 1>with acid reflux and heartburn. But as far as your

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<v Speaker 1>mouth and those precious taste buds go, don't worry. Dando says.

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<v Speaker 1>People seem to talk about spicy food destroys your taste buds.

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<v Speaker 1>That's not really true. It's not physically damaging the tissues.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just kind of simulating the conditions where they would

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<v Speaker 1>get damaged. So spice it up, brave foodies, and keep

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<v Speaker 1>a glass of whole milk or a side of bread

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<v Speaker 1>or rice handy just in case. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other Red Hot topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com