Re: Why won’t a glass of water relieve the burning sensation of chili peppers?

Hi there,
Nice question! Too many times after eating some spicy chili, I've reached towards a glass of water instead of a glass of milk, only to be chagrined, and still in pain!

The reason that water doesn't do a darn thing is that the compounds which cause the spiciness don't dissolve in water. As you probably know from Chemistry class, likes dissolve likes. Capsaicin, the compound of spiciness, is pretty lipophilic; that is to say, it dissolves in oils, not water. So when you drink water, capsaicin remains stuck to its receptor (yep! There's a spice receptor in your mouth. It's actually all over your body, but that's a different story). But when you drink something with some fat or something which is non-polar, like milk or alcohol, the beverage sweeps the molecule away from its receptor and down into your stomach, where there are no capsaicin receptors.

Here're some articles on capsaicin:
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/features/capsaicin.shtml
(this article has some links relevant to the capsaicin receptor at the bottom as well!)

http:/ /www.people.cornell.edu/pages/bjm10/capsaicin/capsaicin.html
Hope this helps!
-Alex

cgoddard@fas.harvard.edu