![Addicted to chilli? Here’s how it might help us regain our sense of taste after COVID](https://th-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/7bpzzo/article66306577.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/AFP_32NG9GM.jpg)
Addicted to chilli? Here’s how it might help us regain our sense of taste after COVID
The Hindu
The key ingredient in chilli is a compound called capsaicin, which causes a painful and even burning sensation.
The news of a hot chilli sauce shortages earlier this year – due to high temperatures and drought in agricultural regions – prompted warnings to stock up on supplies or forego adding this flavour to your food. But what prompts people to want to do this in the first place?
We are usually born with an aversion to the sensations like the taste of chilli on our tongue. This isn’t surprising because the key ingredient in chilli is a compound called capsaicin, which causes a painful and even burning sensation when it comes into contact with sensitive areas of our skin, eyes and mouth. Little wonder that it is also a key ingredient in pepper spray.
But in smaller, tolerable amounts, we can adapt to the sensations evoked by chilli and find them desirable.
Chilli can even act as a natural opiate, making our bodies release endorphins in a similar way to a “runner’s high”.
We react to capsaicin because we have a family of receptors in sensory nerves lining the epithelial (outer) layers of our skin, naso-oral and gastrointestinal tract. These bind to the capsaicin and relay signals to our brain.
These receptors are temperature sensitive and respond to heat in addition to being activated by capsaicin.
In the case of biting into a chilli pepper, the release of capsaicin onto our tongue generates a sensation that ranges from mild tingling to burning heat, depending on the degree to which we have adapted to it.
![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20240611003910.jpg)
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20240610192527.jpg)
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.
![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20240610183344.jpg)
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.