Why is diarrhea after eating spicy food becoming more and more common?

This article was reviewed by Pa Li Ze, chief physician of nutrition, member of the Science Popularization Committee of the Chinese Nutrition Society

Some netizens reflected such a problem:

When I was a kid, I was not afraid of eating spicy food. Now I get stomach upset every time I eat spicy food. Many of my friends are the same.

Is it possible that all spicy foods nowadays have problems?

Don’t worry, today we will summarize the various reasons:

Does chili pepper cause diarrhea?

Capsaicin, also known as capsicum oleoresin, is a product extracted and concentrated from chili peppers. It has a strong spicy taste and is used to make food seasoning.

In addition to the spicy ingredients of chili peppers, chili essence also contains more than 100 complex chemicals such as capsaicin, protein, pectin, polysaccharides, and capsanthin.

Capsaicin is not an illegal additive, but an extract of a natural food ingredient.

Here we need to understand that chili essence is just the purified capsaicin in chili peppers.

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It is just a seasoning, not much different from chicken essence or MSG.

The root cause of diarrhea is not chili pepper, but the spiciness of the food.

Whether it is chili essence or chili peppers added to stir-fried dishes is not the culprit for diarrhea.

The main question is "is it too spicy?"

Generally speaking, if a person has a stomach that can fully accept "abnormal spiciness", and if the food eaten with the spicy food is fresh and hygienic, then no matter it is the "abnormal spiciness" of chili peppers or chili essence, it will not cause diarrhea.

Capsaicin is one of the causes of diarrhea

Chili peppers contain a large amount of capsaicin, a strong irritant. It is an alkaloid containing vanillamide that can bind to the vanilloid receptor subtype of sensory neurons.

Since the VR1 receptor transmits a burning sensation after activation (it is also activated when it is stimulated by heat), when you eat chili peppers, you feel a burning sensation.

This burning sensation gives the brain a false idea that the body is injured and starts releasing the body's own painkillers, endorphins.

So it can make people feel euphoric, the more they eat, the better they feel, and the more they want to eat.

This is why eating spicy food is refreshing. But what happens after the refreshing feeling?

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Capsaicin is not easily metabolized by the digestive tract and can cause a burning sensation in the intestines.

There are many neurons on the intestinal wall, so it is also called the "gut brain" by medical scientists.

When these neurons receive the burning signal, they will activate the body's detoxification mechanism, treating the capsaicin as a poison, speeding up gastrointestinal motility, and excreting the poison.

During this process, undigested food will be pushed to the anus and at the same time, it will absorb water in the intestines, making the stool unformed and loose, which is what we commonly call "diarrhea."

In fact, diarrhea caused by eating spicy food and diarrhea caused by catching a cold are based on the same principle. Both are caused by stimulation of intestinal neurons.

Stale or spoiled food

As the saying goes, "a white complexion can conceal a hundred imperfections." In fact, some unscrupulous vendors also use spicy and numbing tastes to stimulate our tongues, reduce the sensitivity of the tongue, and thus cover up the taste of stale food.

In addition to some less formal malatang restaurants on the roadside, hotpot is also one of the hardest hit areas.

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Some informal small shops will leave hot pot ingredients at room temperature for a long time, especially meat ingredients. If left at room temperature for too long, microorganisms will multiply in large numbers.

By the time the food is actually put into the pot, the initial microorganisms have already "exploded".

However, hot pot often needs to be heated by diners themselves, and the degree of heating is often difficult to control.

Sometimes, diners feel that the food is cooked, but in fact the microorganisms inside the food are not completely killed.

Moreover, sometimes chopsticks have to be used to pick up both raw and cooked food and put them into the mouth. Even if you pay more attention, the risk of cross-contamination is inevitable.

Natural aging of the stomach

Many people believe that they have been able to eat spicy food since childhood, so even as they get older, their appetite for spicy food does not decrease.

In fact, our gastrointestinal function will gradually weaken as we age.

For example, many people have this feeling - when they are young, it’s okay to eat anything, but as they get older, if they eat something unclean, their stomach will feel uncomfortable.

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In fact, it is the same with spicy food. Spiciness is actually just a kind of stimulation. Our gastrointestinal function becomes weaker as we age, which leads to our lower tolerance to spicy taste.

Therefore, once you eat more chili than your stomach can accept, your stomach will feel uncomfortable!

You should eat spicy food according to your ability. Just like your stomach, you should learn to "accept your age"!

Source: Zhihu Daily, Zhihu answerer @依医

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