Can Eating Chiles Kill You?

My family thinks I'm completely insane when it comes to eating spicy foods. While it's true that I like things a tad hotter than most, I would disagree with their clinical diagnosis. Some like it hot, as they say.

Still, I've often wondered if too many hot chiles were bad for my body (acid reflux, be damned), and could they somehow lead to my untimely demise?

I've read of scientific studies where hot peppers in general, and capsicum in particular, were placed on exposed stomach tissue, including ulcers, with no negative results. So if it's doesn't damage your tissue when exposed to it directly, it doesn't seem likely that it would cause an inglorious, fiery death.

Serious Eats explores the topic in more detail, and I'm relieved to know that a doctor interviewed for the article posited that a human would need to consume the equivalent of 30 pounds of jalapeño peppers in one sitting to ingest enough capsicum to prove fatal.

It would be possible to exacerbate an underlying condition by eating something so darn hot that it caused your blood pressure to shoot up dangerously, but I would blame that on the pre-existing condition, not the chiles themselves. Besides, hot peppers are full of wonderful vitamins and compounds that boost your immune system as the snot drips from your nose.

Perhaps that's the answer to our health care dilemma - a pound of peppers per week! Where do I go to sign up?

Image by Jill Fromer