NationStates Jolt Archive

Anybody know what it is in spicy food (curries, chillies etc) that makes your mouth burn? Also why does milk neutralise it yet water makes it worse?

I'm not sure what the substances are that make it "burn", but I know that they are soluble in fat, and thus insoluble in water. Milk contains fat that they dissolve in and thus milk removes them from your mouth/tongue, while water just spreads them around even more and aids in their irritation of your nerves/tastebuds, causing a worse burning sensation.

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin

Oleoresin capsicum I think.

If I remember correctly, spicy food is "spicy" because it contains a chemical called capsaicin. The spicier the food, the more capsaicin it contains.

The reason water doesn't cool the burn is because most of the time, spicy foods are cooked in some sort of oil. The capsaicin is in solution in the oil, which coats your tongue and throat. So it just hangs there and burns. Water doesn't mix with oil, so it doesn't remove the burning coat. Milk, however, acts as a good dilutant so it cuts the burn. You can also use alcohol, which acts as a solvent to remove the oil coat altogether.

Technically your mouth is not burning. The stuff in the food react with your taste buds (the sour ones i think) creating a burning sensation, yet not actually burning. You are just made to think so.

Oh, i almost forgot...The reason water doesn't cool it down is because water spreads the sensation around the mouth.

i think milk neutralizes due to its thickness?

i am unsure on that

Technically your mouth is not burning. The stuff in the food react with your taste buds (the sour ones i think) creating a burning sensation, yet not actually burning. You are just made to think so.
It's an irritant. You'll feel the burn on anywhere. Mucus membranes, like those that line your mouth and nose, are particularly vulnerable, but rubbing a strong solution of it on your skin will produce a warm sensation, maybe even some slight burning sensation.

exactly, its all about what reacts with what to get what sensation. You could get a cooling sensation (like those soothing pads you get for kids with headaches)

The mechanism of action has already been posted:

"The burning and painful sensations associated with capsaicin result from capsaicin's chemical interaction with sensory neurons. Capsaicin, as a member of the vanilloid family, binds to a receptor called the vanilloid receptor subtype 1 (VR1) first cloned in 1997, VR1 is an ion channel-type receptor. VR1, can also be stimulated with heat and physical abrasion, permits positively-charged ions (i.e. cations) to pass through the cell membrane and into the cell from outside when activated. The resulting "depolarization" of the neuron stimulates it to signal the brain. By binding to the VR1 receptor, the capsaicin molecule produces the same effect that excessive heat or abrasive damage would cause, explaining why the spiciness of capsaicin is described as a burning sensation.

The VR1 ion channel has subsequently been shown to be a member of the superfamily of TRP ion channels, and as such is now refer to as TRPV1. There are a number of different TRP ion channels that have been shown to be sensitive to different ranges of temperature and probably are responsible for our range of temperature sensation. Thus, capsaicin does not actually cause a chemical burn; it causes only the sensation of one."

I keep a bottle of the stuff in my 'fridge.

http://www.hotsauceworld.com/purecap.html

I use it in everything from Breads to analgesic rubs.

Thanks guys.

@Syniks: You're mad... i salute you!