Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 131 points –
Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods
arstechnica.com

The hot pepper linked to teen's death can cause arteries in the brain to spasm.

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The effects on blood pressure are well known, but that it can cause spasm of arteries is interesting.

Many people eat lots of spicy food daily and I never heard of serious health issues. Especially a single chip might contain a concentrated amount of capsaicin, but it is unlikely to contain much more in volume then a hot plate of chili con carne or even just a hand full of raw jalapenos. So I assume it is some underlying condition and a shock reaction and not the capsaicin itself.

I would love to see more research into this.

It contains some of the spiciest peppers in existence, with a rating of well over a million Scoville. Jalapeños go up to a rating of ~8000 Scoville.

It's incredibly spicy.

I could have also picked a habanero which is admittedly a lot more spicy and it used to be the hottest pepper in the world, but it usually doesn't cause a big reaction either.

Anyway, that's missing the point. I was talking about the total amount of capsaicin which can't be really high in just one chip. It is just a tiny amount of concentrated capsaicin and I believe that people usually consume more with a regular spicy meal. Hence my believe that not the capsaicin itself is the problem.

Yeah, but they sell sauces that go well above those chillis scoville ratings made with extracts that people eat all the time without dying.

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