Everyone has a different tolerance for spicy food, but the scientific consensus on whether spicy food can have a positive or negative impact on your health is largely contradictory.

Is spicy food really dangerous?

In September 2023, a 14-year-old boy died after eating chili peppers as part of the One Chip Challenge. The challenge uses some of the world's hottest chili peppers.

While the boy's death is still under investigation by health officials, some of the chili peppers used in these challenges have been removed from stores.

The Appeal of Spicy Food

Spicy food can refer to food with a lot of spice, like Asian curry. It can also refer to the noticeable heat caused by capsaicin, a chemical compound found in varying degrees in chili peppers.

As the capsaicin content of a pepper increases, so does its Scoville rating, which measures heat intensity.

The spiciness of capsaicin activates certain biological pathways in mammals. The pain from spicy food can trigger the release of endorphins and dopamine, leading to feelings of relief or even euphoria.

Short-Term Health Effects

The short-term effects of consuming extremely spicy foods range from the pleasurable sensation of heat to an uncomfortable burning sensation across the lips, tongue, and mouth. These foods can also cause various forms of gastrointestinal discomfort, headaches, and vomiting.

If highly spiced foods are uncomfortable to eat or cause unpleasant symptoms such as migraines, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, it is best to avoid them. Spicy food may trigger these symptoms in people with inflammatory bowel disease, for example.

Despite the challenges of spicy food, for many people around the world, consuming spicy food is part of a long-standing lifestyle influenced by geography and culture.

For example, chili peppers grow in hot climates, which may explain why many cultures in these regions use spicy foods. Some research suggests that spicy foods help control foodborne illnesses, which may also explain cultural preferences for spicy foods.

Lack of Consensus

Nutritional epidemiologists have been studying the potential risks and benefits of consuming spicy foods over the long term for many years. Some findings include an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, heartburn and ulcers, mental health, and pain sensitivity.

These studies show mixed results, with some outcomes, such as heartburn, being more strongly associated with consuming spicy foods.

Some experts confidently assert that spicy food does not cause stomach ulcers, while its link to stomach cancer is less clear.

Currently, evidence from large population studies suggests that spicy food does not increase the risk of death from all causes in the general population and may even reduce it.

However, when considering the results of these studies, keep in mind that what people eat is just one component of a larger set of lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, relative body weight, and tobacco and alcohol consumption, which also have health consequences.

It often takes many studies conducted over several years to reach a definitive conclusion about how a dietary factor affects a particular aspect of health.

Report by Paul D. Terry, Professor of Epidemiology, University of Tennessee.