Do you think you can handle the 2007 world’s hottest pepper daily? Or perhaps you like participating in social pepper eating contests and probably enjoy the adrenaline rush. There are reasons why hot pepper eating contests are not scheduled every day. So one has to wonder what would happen if you eat ghost peppers daily?
Daily consumption of ghost peppers throws your nervous system into crisis, thus triggering several neurological and biochemical responses that lead to undesirable effects in the body. It activates your body’s fight or flight adrenal functions because the high levels of capsaicin trick your body into thinking that it is on fire and in danger. However, these responses depend on the quantity that you consume.
Wondering what happens if you eat ghost peppers daily is a good topic of inquiry. So, if ghost peppers are one of the hottest chilis in the world, why would anyone want to eat them every day? Except for spicy food enthusiasts who like to show off their capsaicin tolerance level. In this article, let’s see what happens when you eat ghost peppers daily!
Is It Safe To Eat Ghost Peppers Every Day?
Ghost peppers, also known as Bhut jolokia, are entirely safe to eat as long as you do not consume more than 1/50th of your body weight. The ghost pepper is a hybrid hot chili species that contains high capsaicin levels (the plant chemical responsible for its hotness).
Essentially, the economic importance of ghost peppers related to human consumption depends on the quantity and how you consume them. Therefore, if you eat ghost peppers daily in little portions and as part of your food flavoring, you are unlikely to have any problems unless you are allergic to ghost peppers.
On the other hand, if you pop raw ghost peppers into your mouth, you will only get the feeling that your whole body is on fire. Your body will try to salvage the false heat sensation by triggering several biochemical and neurological reactions, which include but are not limited to:
- Sweating and hyperventilation
- Salivation to dilute the capsaicin
- Tears from your eyes and mucus from your nose
- Sneezing, coughing, etc.
After about 30 to 45 minutes of intense heat and discomfort, you will undoubtedly feel some relief. However, if you eat more than one raw ghost pepper at once, you will probably experience twice the pain of eating just one ghost pepper.
More importantly, you should ensure that you do not have any ghost pepper allergies before you eat them to avoid experiencing more brutal conditions like anaphylaxis.
Fun Fact: capsaicin is actually a neurotoxin and, in large concentrations, can cause lethal situations like seizures, heart attacks, and in extreme cases, death.
Can Eating Ghost Peppers Kill You?
Although excessive consumption of ghost peppers is dangerous and not advisable, they cannot kill in the true sense of killing. The reason is that you require a heavy dose of capsaicin to die from eating ghost peppers.
For instance, according to research by the Chili Pepper Institute published in the Journal of emergency medicine, you will have to eat about 1/50th of your body weight of ghost peppers to die from capsaicin overdose.
The capsaicin in ghost peppers can cause severe inflammation to the nerve endings and receptors when consumed in high amounts. Essentially, the affected nerve endings in response to the burn instigate the release of biochemicals within the body that can create situations similar to anaphylactic shocks in susceptible persons.
Fortunately, the amount of capsaicin needed to cause such devastation is way higher than the amount in a ghost pepper.
Fun Fact: Ghost peppers are so hot that they are weaponized in India to produce ghost chili grenades.
What Are the Dangers of Excessively Consuming Ghost Peppers?
Although there are health benefits of eating ghost peppers like essential vitamin and mineral supplies, excessive consumption can be harmful to your health. Here are a few dangers of eating ghost peppers excessively.
Possible Taste Bud Desensitization
Excessively consuming ghost peppers expose your taste buds to high doses of capsaicin, which can desensitize your taste buds over time.
As a result, you may discover that your taste buds can no longer actively detect taste, causing you to require excess salt, sugar, or flavoring in your meals.
It May Cause Possible Stomach Discomfort
Capsaicin is a strong organic irritant to smooth muscles and internal or mucosal linings. As a result, excessive consumption of ghost peppers may irritate the stomach linings leading to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
Also, excessive consumption of ghost peppers can aggravate an already existing stomach ulcer by irritating the stomach walls. In addition, most people report cases of frequent stooling after eating foods with high pepper content.
Even though several schools of thought claim that ghost peppers have the propensity to cause stomach cancers, such claims have not been scientifically and medically verified. However, it is safe to consume ghost peppers in small quantities in the interest of your overall health and quality of life.
Here is a table showing the pros and cons of eating ghost peppers
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Rich in essential vitamins and minerals | May cause severe headaches |
| Aid weight loss by speeding up your body’s metabolic rate | Desensitize taste buds |
| Enhance food flavor and taste | May cause stomach disorders |
| Serves as a food preservative | May cause anaphylaxis in allergic people. |
How Do Different Body Parts Respond to the Consumption of Ghost Peppers?
Your mouth is not the only organ affected when you eat ghost peppers. Essentially, the capsaicin in ghost peppers sends waves of pain to other parts of your body.
Here is a table showing essential body parts and how they respond to capsaicin when eating ghost peppers.
| Body parts | Corresponding response or reaction to capsaicin |
|---|---|
| Mouth/nose/eyes/throat | Increased fluid production in the form of tears, saliva, and mucus.Hyperventilation. |
| Brain | False heat sensationExtreme discomfortFalse nervous breakdown |
| Sweat glands | Redness of the face/handsProfuse sweatingOpen sweat pores |
| Digestive system | Intestinal mucus productionStomach upsetIntestinal contractionsDiarrheaVomitingAcid reflux. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What Happens to Your Body if You Consume Raw Ghost Peppers Daily?
Daily consumption of raw ghost peppers creates a constant feeling of your body being on fire. In severe cases, you might experience headaches, heartburn, stomach disorders like ulceration of the stomach linings, vomiting, and nausea. These symptoms are due to excessive consumption.
How Do You Neutralize the Burn After Eating Ghost Pepper-Flavored Foods?
The capsaicin contained in ghost peppers is not water-soluble. Therefore, drinking copious amounts of water will not quench the burn. Instead, ghost pepper-flavored foods should be accompanied by milk-based products like cheese or drinks like milkshakes because of their casein content.
Can Eating Ghost Peppers Cause Stomach Ulcers?
Eating ghost peppers does not directly cause stomach ulcers. However, they can cause significant damage to your stomach linings, leading to stomach ulcers. Also, ghost peppers can aggravate existing stomach disorders like peptic and gastric ulcers, acid reflux, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Final Thoughts
The safe and recommended daily consumption of ghost peppers is only within the context of using them as food flavoring or seasoning. So even though ghost peppers are nutritious and possess some health benefits, there is hardly much rationality in eating raw ghost peppers every day.
