Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff Lauren Bolga bomb here with a classic Brainstuff episode from the archives. This one concerns the thrilling sensation of eating spicy food. How does that work? And can it really burn out your taste buds? Hey brain Stuff, Lauren
Bugle bomb here. Spiciness is a very personal preference. Some like their food hot, some like it even hotter, and some won't even start to chow down until they've slopped on the saracha, piled on the halapenos, and laid on enough horseradish too literally bring tears to their eyes, which practically begs the question, what's wrong with those people? Do these folks actually enjoy watering eyes, as searing tongue and
a runny nose at the dinner table? But more alarmingly, one might wonder are they setting themselves up for everything else to taste extra bland? Can spicy food burn out your taste buds? Robin Dandoz studies exactly these types of questions, and assistant professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell, Dando has spent his albeit still young career studying how our bodies interact with the food that we consume and what comes to spicy foods in our bodies. It's a
tricky one. When you put a spicy food in your mouth, whether it's a halopeno or whatever is in that five alarm chili you just ordered, you're often ingesting a chemical compound found in peppers called kept saysin. Kept says in interacts with receptors in your mouth, which immediately send a signal to your brain. The signal goes something like this, fire, fire, hot, hot, hot fire. It's not some joke that your mouth is
playing on your brain, or not quite. The receptors in your mouth react, the cap says, in the same way they would if there were an actual fire on your tongue. That's why the brain, which takes these things quite literally sets off your body's sprinkler system. Your heart starts racing, firing up that fight or flight mechanism. Your blood rushes to the skin surface to cool things down. You start to salivate, your nose may start to run. For some people,
this is considered fun. It's a culinary experience. They can't get enough of it. For those who prefer more subtle tastes and dry eyes. The whole idea of too spicy foods may be difficult to comprehend, but too many spicy food lovers it's the hotter the better. Although it may seem like a fifty shades of Red kind of thing, Dando says that people who eat extremely spicy foods often do it because they have to in order to get the experience. That's because spicy food connosours probably build up
a tolerance to spiciness. Dando said, there's some pretty strong evidence that suggests that you can, we would call it desensitization, simply being exposed to something constantly, you start to build up a tolerance to it. Physically speaking, desensitization can act at the nerve, at the receptor, or in the brain.
Dando explains. Essentially, if you're stimulating a nerve a lot, it can become less responsive with kepsays, and in particular, one of the neurotransmitters responsible for signaling pain to the brain can become depleted easily. Likewise, a cell can reprogram to express fewer of its receptors if they're frequently in use. And finally, the brain can basically turn down the volume of a signal in the short term. It's like how
if you get in cold water at the beach. It's intensely cold, but in a minute or so it doesn't feel so frigid. If you've ever been a spicy food fanatic, you may have wondered what year after year of all of that fiery goodness may be doing to your taste buds. For sure, spicy foods can get to some people. They've been associated with acid reflux and heartburn. But as far as your mouth and those precious taste buds go, don't worry. Dando says. People seem to talk about spicy food destroys
your taste buds. That's not really true. It's not physically damaging the tissues. It's just kind of simulating the conditions where they would get damaged. So spice it up, brave foodies, and keep a glass of whole milk or a side of bread or rice handy just in case. Today's episode is based on the article can spicy food really burnout taste buds? On how stuff works dot Com? Written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and it's
produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.