Read on to learn all about the sensory magic of chili peppers and why some love the burn, before you hear that Denmark has just outlawed one very spicy hot Korean instant noodle.
The Chemical Culprit : Capsaicin
The thing that makes chili peppers spicy is a substance called capsaicin. The compound attaches to a protein known as TRPV1, which is what normally allows us to feel dangerously high temperatures. With capsaicin around, though, it causes the TRPV1 protein to activate at much lower temperatures — making us seem like we are on fire.
Our body is tricked and reacts with inflammatory action as if we actually burned ourselves, causing us to suffer regulation problems like swelling, sweating and hurting. This is the mechanism that we used to discover and study how heat is sensed by human and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2021.
The Evolutionary Arms Race
In nature, chili plants use capsaicin as a natural means of defense against mammals for eating their fruit. Some like it hot, but human beings are alone in their particular affection for the kind of chili heat that makes food taste as if your face is melting. From: other-than humans, only tree shrews are known to gorge on chilies with gusto; those that hanker for a meal of capsaicin-rich food possess a mutated TRPV1 gene and consume astonishing quantities of chilies.
For birds, who possess a different heat sensor, the spice does not work at all. This pix should make the chili plant happy I guess as birds eat these and the seeds are scattered over a large area. Great information, and also sounds like a gardening hack, because planting some chili pepper in bird feed will stop rodents from coming back for more.
Conclusion
The spicy case of the Buldak Ramen noodles ban in Denmark brings to mind a wonderful piece of work on what is happening inside our bodies to allow us to feel the burning sensation of chili peppers. From the chemical triggers of our inflammatory response to millennia of evolution between chili plants and their eaters, the world of capsaicinoids is a densely packed hell broth full of biology and human quirk. But many of us, while we may enjoy the tickle of hot peppers on our tongues (I know I do), are obviously looking for something more.
