Usage of capsaicin

Usage of capsaicin in foods

Why does Asian cuisine add a lot of peppers to the dishes? Most people say that eating peppers and spicy foods will open your taste buds, increasing your appetite; hence, you will likely eat more of it. To understand this magic, we have to understand the chemistry behind it. When the nervous system senses pain, it tells the brain to release dopamine and endorphins: one gives people a sense of pleasure and satisfaction, one relieves pain, reduces stress, and improves the sense of well-being respectively. These two chemicals are "happy chemicals" that we could also get from exercise, sports, eating, and other enjoyable events. When the pain receptor receives pain from pepper, the receptor tells the brain to provide these "happy chemicals" to relieve pain in the human body, even if the spiciness of pepper is not strong; hence, this Is why people like eating pepper in a chemistry explanation.

Usage of capsaicin in medicine

To understand in depth how capsaicin can be used as a pain reliever in a neurology term, we need to first know why is capsaicin used. We already know in the Usage of Peppers in Foods chapter that peppers produce a small amount of heat pain for our pain receptors to receive; these pain receptors are called TRPV1 receptors. When capsaicin binds to these receptors, it initially causes an influx of calcium ions into the neuron, leading to the sensation of heat or burning pain, which is why eating chili peppers feels hot or painful; with continued exposure to this pain, the TRPV1 receptors get less and less reactive to pain, which causing the human body to feel less pain; in addition to the receptors, Capsaicin medicines also reduce substance P from getting to our brain. Substance P is an 11-amino acid-long neuropeptide that is responsible for sending pain signals to the brain, so with less substance P, fewer signals were sent to the brain; furthermore, repeated exposure to capsaicin can also reduce the sensitivity of nerve fibers, making them less responsive to other pain stimuli.

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