Can the Hottest Peppers In the World Kill You?

Hugh Pickens writes "Katharine Gammon writes that last week, the Kismot Indian restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, held a competition to eat the extra-hot Kismot Killer curry and several ambulances were called after some of the competitive eaters were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting. Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute, says that chili peppers can indeed cause death — but most people's bodies would falter long before they reached that point. 'Theoretically, one could eat enough really hot chiles to kill you,' says Bosland adding that a research study in 1980 calculated that three pounds of the hottest peppers in the world — something like the Bhut Jolokia — eaten all at once could kill a 150-pound person. Chili peppers cause the eater's insides to rev up, activating the sympathetic nervous system — which helps control most of the body's internal organs — to expend more energy, so the body burns more calories when the same food is eaten with chili peppers. But tissue inflammation could explain why the contestants in the Killer Curry contest said they felt like chainsaws were ripping through their insides. As for the contest, restaurant owner Abdul Ali admitted the fiery dish may have been too spicy after the Scottish Ambulance Service warned him to review his event. 'I think we'll tone it down, but we'll definitely do it next year.'"

Comments

Re:Warning from the ambulance service?

[Anrego]

Could have just been a "or you might kill someone" warning and not a "or we'll convene the ambulance committee and have you ambulanced to death" warning.

Re:Warning from the ambulance service?

[Hazel Bergeron]

Libertarianism in theory: perfectly informed, rational, able consumers interacting freely for mutual benefit.

Libertarianism in practice: CAVEAT EMPTOR, IDIOTS! MIGHT IS RIGHT!

Hope this helps.

Re:I'd believe it...

[Tsingi]

It's always been a mystery to me why I can eat and enjoy something so toxic that I have to wear rubber gloves to prepare them.

Re:Warning from the ambulance service?

[Sockatume]

It's not like a police warning or anything, but if you tie up the ambulance service with the culinary equivalent of a testicle-kicking contest, then they're going to ask you to reconsider your plans. Bear in mind that ambulances are a free service in the UK, there's no disincentive to phoning up an ambulance (as opposed to a taxi) if you incapacitate yourself in a hilariously moronic fashion.

Re:Yes, they do...

[starmonkey]

This post is an amazing mash of urban legend, hearsay and anecdotes. Did you do it on purpose? Are you a satirical genius?

Re:I'd believe it...

[adeft]

Define enjoy..... Mostly ridiculously hot eating is part of a bunch of guys trying to prove they're as tough as each other :) That's why I do it, and will do it again. Enjoy it? Not really.

Re:LD50?

[Ellis D. Tripp]

But seriously anything with an MSDS sheet that contains an LD50 should never be eaten.

Seriously? How do you live without ingesting water (LD50 90 mL/kg):

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321

Or table salt? (LD50 3000 mg/kg)

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927593

What about sugar? (LD50 29700 mg/kg)

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927285

Or caffeine? (LD50 192 mg/kg)

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927475

Enough of just about ANYTHING can cause serious problems if ingested. The presence of an LD50 on an MSDS sheet means nothing if you don't bother to understand exactly what it means in the real world.