Why does spicy “hot” food cause the same physical reactions as heat, for example: sweating?
Updated 24th October 1997 Spicy foods excite the nerve endings in the skin and mucosa (lining of the mouth and digestive tract) that normally respond to high temperature or injury. The information is carried by pain fibres to the central nervous system. The brain makes a judgment based on the type and variety of stimuli being received and occasionally misinterprets the information. Thus, the stimulation produced by the chemicals in spicey foods causes the brain to perceive an extreme of heat and initiate responses such as sweating and vasodilation (visible on the persons face as flushing). One of the active ingredients in spicey food is capsaicin, which is found in the white ribs inside hot chillies. Capsaicin probably evolved in plants as a protective mechanism, to discourage certain pests. Different species of chilli contain different amounts of capsaicin, conferring different degrees of “hotness”. In 1912 Wilbur Scoville proposed a scale of measurement based on the apparent hotness
