The Carolina Reaper is the hottest pepper in the world! The pepper was initially bred by a man in South Carolina; the chilli is a cross between the second hottest pepper in the world, ghost chilli and a habanero. And the internet is practically flooding with videos of people eating the Carolina Reaper with very disturbing results!

Throwing up, contorting in agony and a reddened face with teary eyes are just a few outcomes of eating the hottest pepper in the world. One girl even reported of getting an asthma attack after eating the pepper. While these reactions might be scary, they’re not life-threatening.

What’s more, for one man, the daring feat was followed by an excruciating headache. The 34-year old man entered a competition to eat the world’s hottest pepper (Boddhula et al., 2018). However, the moment he bit into the pepper, the man developed a severe pain in the back of his head and neck. A thunderclap headache is a severe headache with a sudden onset. The headache is intense and painful as soon as it starts and does not grow in intensity gradually. In fact, because of its severe intensity, it is even described as the worst headache of your life.

According to David Julius a professor of physiology at UC San Francisco, “When you experience a hot chili pepper, it’s not a taste response, it’s a pain response”.

The man experienced brief episodes of the headache even over the next few days after eating the pepper. Doctor’s discovered that the headache were caused by a condition known as reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS). In RCV, there is a temporary narrowing of the arteries in the brain. This was the first time RCV was reported with eating chilli peppers.

Fortunately, the man’s symptoms improved without any specific treatment.

Is there any extreme danger in eating very spicy food?

The active ingredient that gives chilli peppers their spiciness is called capsaicin. When capsaicin binds to the heat receptors on the pain nerve fibres located in your body – it tricks your brain into thinking that parts of your body are actually burning!

Are you brave enough to take on the chilli-pepper eating challenge?

References

Boddhula, S. K., Boddhula, S., Gunasekaran, K., & Bischof, E. (2018). An unusual cause of thunderclap headache after eating the hottest pepper in the world–“The Carolina Reaper”. Case Reports, 2018, bcr-2017.