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From: ed@unisoft.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: hot peppers, ref Salsa
Message-ID: <211@unisoft.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Mar-84 02:08:05 EST
Article-I.D.: unisoft.211
Posted: Fri Mar  2 02:08:05 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Mar-84 15:20:12 EST
References: <193@teklds.UUCP>
Organization: UniSoft Corp., Berkeley
Lines: 22

Actually, the hotness in peppers comes from a chemical that
is not an irritant, but a nerve stimulant.  As I understand
it, at least, this chemical "tricks" the nerves into thinking
that there is something going on, and what the nerves get is
something like a burn or heat.  However, the body's burn reactions
are all wrong!  For some reason, good burn reactions have never
evolved in humans, and the body over-reacts, essentially
panicing.  This results in blisters and the like, which
are actually bad for healing the burn.

How does this relate to peppers, you ask.  Well, peppers do
cause burn reactions in some people.  But the burn wasn't
really there.  The nerves were stimulated into thinking that
something was wrong, and the body paniced.

(I don't claim complete accuracy for all of this, it's way
out of my expertise.  It is the way I understand that it all
works, though, from talking to some folks who do know.)

-- 
Ed Gould
ucbvax!mtxinu!ed