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Putting out the fire - Efficacy of common beverages in reducing oral burn from capsaicin - PubMed

  • ️Tue Jan 01 2019

Putting out the fire - Efficacy of common beverages in reducing oral burn from capsaicin

Alissa A Nolden et al. Physiol Behav. 2019.

Abstract

Capsaicin is classically considered an irritant, due to the warming and burning sensations it elicits. Widespread consumption of chilis suggests many individuals enjoy this burn, but these sensations can be overwhelming if the burn is too intense. While substantial folklore exists on the ability of specific beverages to mitigate capsaicin burn, quantitative data to support these claims are generally lacking. Here, we systematically tested various beverages for their ability to reduce oral burn following consumption of capsaicin in tomato juice. Participants (n = 72, 42 women, 30 men) rated the burn of 30 mL of spicy tomato juice on a general Labeled Magnitude Scale (gLMS) immediately after swallowing, and again every 10 s for 2 min. On 7 of 8 trials, a test beverage (40 mL) was consumed after tomato juice was swallowed, including: skim milk, whole milk, seltzer water, Cherry Kool-Aid, non-alcoholic beer, cola, and water. Participants also answered questions regarding intake frequency and liking of spicy food. Initial burn of tomato juice alone was rated below "strong" but above "moderate" on a gLMS and continued to decay over the 2 min to a mean just above "weak". All beverages significantly reduced the burn of the tomato juice. To quantify efficacy over time, area under the curve (AUC) values were calculated, and the largest reductions in burn were observed for whole milk, skim milk, and Kool-Aid. More work is needed to determine the mechanism(s) by which these beverages reduce burn (i.e., partitioning due to fat, binding by protein, or sucrose analgesia). Present data suggest milk is the best choice to mitigate burn, regardless of fat context, suggesting the presence of protein may be more relevant than lipid content.

Keywords: Capsaicin; Chemesthesis; Irritation; Psychophysics; TRPV1; Time intensity.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest disclosure

AAN and GL have no potential conflicts to report. JEH has received speaking, travel and consulting fees from nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, commodity boards, and corporate clients in the food industry. Additionally, the Sensory Evaluation Center at Penn State routinely conducts taste tests for industrial clients to facilitate experiential learning for students.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:

Least square means for perceived burn over time, controlling for gender. In ANOVA, burn decayed over time, and the beverages differed in their ability of reduce the burn of the spicy tomato juice (see text for details). Inset boxes on the right are magnified data from the beginning and end of the trial.

Figure 2:
Figure 2:

Area under the curve (AUC) values calculated from burn ratings over time, compared via ANOVA. P-values represent Dunnett’s test versus water (in gray). Relative to room temperature water, AUCs for the no rinse condition were higher and AUCs for Kool-Aid, skim milk, and whole milk were lower.

Figure 3:
Figure 3:

Means for each timepoint and beverage expressed as a fraction of the initial value (t=0) for that specific trial. As with Figure 1, in ANOVA, burn decayed over time, and the beverages differed in their ability of reduce the burn of the spicy tomato juice (see text for details). Inset boxes on the left and right the magnified data at t=10 and t=130 seconds, respectively, with percentages indicating the fraction of initial intensity for that beverage and timepoint.

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