Why do people like to eat spicy?

Enjoying a spicy, hot and hot dish is one of the ways to help us feel more warm and comfortable in the cold winter days. And one of the spices that makes food hot is chili. It is commonly used not only in Asia but also as a spice in many parts of the world. However, chili is not only hot but also "painful" . It is a kind of "stimulating pain" that even some people are addicted to chili during meals. So why do so many people like to endure "pain from chili"?

>>> Why are peppers spicy, hot and can use chili to relieve pain?

People evolved to get used to hot, spicy things?

For centuries, people have been "eager" to use chili as an emotional spice during meals. Some people are addicted to it and they will not eat well if the meal lacks chili. In fact, these people are addicted to capsaicin , the type of substance contained in chili peppers, which creates a feeling of heat when ingested. A paradox is that nature has given capsaicin chili with the function of banishing animals, including humans eating it, yet humans still deliberately consume this fruit.

Some theories suggest that our "pain to eat chili" is a "love for temperature". Accordingly, the feeling of eating chili simulates the physical heat. The image of chili is associated with the fire and is closely related to the taste of the dish. The fire is a fundamental element that people have invented since ancient times and it seems that "humans have evolved to love hot foods."

The feeling of eating chili is similar to the feeling of a person with cold food. The cold can be irritating to the skin but on the contrary, we also love to drink cold drinks and especially ice cream. Maybe, we also evolved to love coolness and used it to solve thirst. However, everything must have a deeper cause and the above reasons are not enough to explain the original question.

Since the 1970s, Paul Rozin, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has begun conducting studies to explain why people love hot spicy foods. He went to the village of Oaxaca, southern Mexico, to investigate the differences between humans and animals. Residents in this area especially like very spicy foods. Do their pigs or dogs like this taste?

Professor Rozin said: "I asked the people in the area if they knew any animals like to eat spicy pepper. They said that this question was very funny. They said: No animals. Any object that likes to eat pepper ". Unable to believe the words of the indigenous people, Rozin conducted a demonstration experiment. He gave pigs and dogs 2 choices: non-spicy cheese biscuits and another piece of biscuits, soaked in spicy sauce. The results showed that they ate both pieces, but always chose non-spicy cakes to eat first.

Experiment "forces mice to eat spicy"

Later, Professor Rozin did another experiment, trying to get the rats to get used to the chillies. If you can help rats like spicy foods rather than bland things, it can be inferred that the presence of hot spicy in cuisine is simply a matter of adaptation. Professor Rozin exposed a group of mice to spicy food right from birth, another group, spicy food was gradually added during development. Both groups continue to like non-spicy foods.

After that, he strengthened rats to eat non-spicy foods mixed with chemicals to make them sick to make them afraid of non-spicy foods. However, both groups of mice continued to like non-spicy foods. Continuing the testing process, he also caused a deficiency of vitamin B for some mice, causing them to suffer from cardiovascular, lung and muscle diseases, . and then, he treated them with the types Spicy food mixed with medicine. That may reduce but not completely eliminate rats' aversion to spicy food. In the end, only the mice that were destroyed with the ability to sense the spicy taste lost their hatred towards chili. Therefore, Professor Rozin concluded that spicy love is unique to humans and may be due to cultural or psychological problems.

Shortly thereafter, Professor Rozin compared a group of Americans (with a spicy diet) to the palate of the villagers in Mexico. He gave each group corn snacks, but with many different spicy intensity. He then asked them to rate the perceptions of each spicy level, from optimal to unpleasant. True to the initial predictions, Mexicans consume spicy tastes better than Americans. But for both groups, the difference between "moderate" and "unpleasant" spicy levels is not high. Professor Rozin said: "The highest level of spicy that people feel like just how uncomfortable the spicy level is. This has led to thinking in me that it was people who pushed the limit to endure it. hurt up ".

In the human brain, the feeling of pleasure and aversion is often closely related, overlapping. Both sensations are reflexes of ancient origin and act on nerves in the brain. Both affect dopamine agents in nerve cells, helping to form motivation and satisfaction. They will activate with high intensity areas on the cortex to affect awareness and consciousness.

Anatomists also argue that the two systems interact closely with each other: In some brain structures, neurons responsible for responding to pain and pleasure are located close to each other. This has formed a gradient from positive to negative. Moreover, most of this gradient is also very close to the pleasure hot spot, an area triggered by endorphins (created by stress), which makes people happier.

Eating chili is a form of "execution" to find pleasure

Carolina Reaper peppers, the world's most spicy chili

Professor Rozin concluded that "spicy love" is the result of a combination of activities between the two nervous systems of interest and pain. People who like to eat spicy is because then, they feel pain without risk, and somehow, they feel the relief when the pain caused by chili peppers. "People like feeling frightened and excited by playing roller coaster, parachuting, or watching horror movies. This is similar to eating chili, jumping into ice water, ." Acts " This also includes eating chili and this is the ability to show people. " For animals, eating chili is a form of corpse, a dangerous challenge to find pleasure.

Rozin hypothesized that the taste also had a rather unexpected emotional function: Solace . In 2011, a study led by neuroscientist Siri Leknes at Oxford University sought to find a relationship between pleasure and relief. Research tries to find out if these two senses always appear together. In the experiment, Dr. Leknes made 18 volunteers to do two things, pleasant and unpleasant, then scan their brain activity.

In the "pleasant mission" , they were asked to recall beautiful memories, including the food they liked and the fresh taste of the sea. In contrast to the unpleasant task, the volunteers will receive signals of danger coming, and soon a beam with 120 degree heat will be projected on their left arm within 5 seconds, not enough to hurt but it will be very painful.

Brain scan results show that both pleasure and pleasure trigger an overlap with a brain region in the anterior lobe. This is where awareness and judgment are formed and very close to the pleasure hotspots. Besides, the researchers also found that the intensity of emotions depends on many factors, including attitudes toward life. Volunteers with pessimistic attitudes in life, their brains will create relief with stronger intensity, probably because these people think that pain will not end.

The "Relaxation" method is only available in humans

According to Guinness World Records, the world's hottest chili is Carolina Reaper, developed in recent years by Ed Currie. He created a website that posted videos of people eating chili and at the same time conducting torture studies. When a man tries to eat chili, his eyes will open larger as a surprise, followed by a series of reactions such as sweating, runny nose and probably a burning sensation. floating description.

However, those scary sensations are unseen in common with the only human indulgence. They try to endure it, overcome it and finally feel the result because they have overcome it. In the end, if you like chili, you should be proud because it is a self-stimulating way that only humans and higher creatures can get.