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For one brave man, eating one of the hottest peppers in the world came with an unexpected side effect: Days of splitting headaches that prompted a trip to the emergency room.
The unusual case, detailed in The BMJ on Monday, began immediately after the 34-year-old man took part in a chili pepper eating contest. He ate a Carolina Reaper, the pepper christened as the world's hottest by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2013 (though there have been several unofficial challengers to the title since).
Immediately after eating the pepper, he started dry heaving. Then he felt excruciating neck pain that soon radiated throughout his entire head. For the next several days, he would experience short but incredibly painful bursts of head pain known as thunderclap headaches. The episodes got so bad that he eventually visited the ER.
Thankfully, a brain scan didn't reveal any major neurological issues, such as a bulged blood vessel (aneurysm) or bleeding. But several of his arteries did appear to narrow significantly, a condition called reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS).
RCVS is known to cause thunderclap headaches, and can be brought on by reactions to drugs, including cocaine and certain antidepressants. No case of RCVS has ever been associated with pepper-eating, but the main ingredient that accounts for a pepper's spiciness—capsaicin—is known to interact with our blood vessels, either by constricting or dilating them, the doctors noted. And cayenne peppers have been rarely linked to heart attacks or suddenly constricted arteries near the heart.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/worlds-hottest-pepper-sends-man-to-the-er-with-thunderc-1825110311
The Carolina Reaper was the world's hottest pepper at the time of the incident, but two varieties have surpassed it unofficially: Dragon's Breath, developed by Neal Price, NPK Technology, and Nottingham Trent University for anesthetic research, and Pepper X, created by the breeder of the Carolina Reaper, Ed Currie.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Wednesday April 11 2018, @11:41AM
About two months ago, I made myself a vindaloo curry. Upon tasting, I thought it lacks a bit, and went for the freezer, where I kept a specialty pepper a friend gave me a bit before. I chopped it up, it went into the curry (about 4 portions), and while it cooked, I had a look on the net what that sort the label said ("Carolina Reaper") is like. After reading the article, I was scared of my lunch. I very carefully sampled the curry, but it was okay. About as hot as I still like it, but fine. I ate it over the course of two days (yummy!) and didn't have any side effects.
I like it somewhat hot (like native red thai curry, or vindaloo levels, but no sporting chili eating contests...), so the total dose doesn't seem to be responsible for the suffering. But I would not have wanted to eat that thing raw, or especially chew on it for some time - i can imagine having the described symptoms as a consequence. IIRC, I very carefully touched a tiny leftover bit where the stalk was with my little finger, sampled that and thought, "oh oh, that's a scorcher".