Can spicy food kill a person?

United States
September 30, 2008 9:46pm CST
I was just reading an interesting article on aol.com about a guy who died after eating a plate of ultra hot chile sauce (pasta sauce dish). And, now his family are wondering if the spicy peppers killed him. Some doctors are saying that it was just an allergic reaction to another ingredient in the dish. What do you think? Is it possible that hot spices and chili's can be fatal?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
1 Oct 08
He could have has an allergic reaction to the peppers too and may not even known it. I have a friend who loves any kind of hot pepper she can get her hands one. One night she made a spicy polenta and had a headache, didn't think much about it. Well, when they had the left overs, same thing happened. She was rushed to the emergency room with a sever migraine, apparently she was allergic, but didn't show any other signs. I bet if you had high blood pressure or bad ulcers too many hot peppers could do you in.
1 person likes this
• United States
1 Oct 08
I don't doubt that one bit!
• Canada
1 Oct 08
I suppose that too much of anything can kill a person. Who knows? An interesting question, though. Also my last comment of the day before the cafe closes. You started some interesting discussions today, Please start some more for me to respond to when I get back here tomorrow. goodnight! they're closing. They just turned out the lights on me.
1 person likes this
• United States
1 Oct 08
Thanks for saying so! I do appreciate your vote of confidence. Friends keep me coming back to Mylot, even when I think I'm gone for good. I'll get the old brain dusted off for questions, tomorrow! Have a good night.
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
1 Oct 08
I have had a lot of pain from eating hot foods. I am not sure if it can kill you though. Well then again my grandmother had a hernia do to eating spicy foods. She had to have surgery for hers years ago. It is from having heartburn or starts out that why and gets worse. It sounds like this man over did it and had a heart attack which is really sad.
• United States
1 Oct 08
Recently, I heard that throat cancer is often caused by bad heart burn. Who knew? Indigestion is a serious matter. Just before I got pregnant, I ate some beef (mock steak) that was not good. I didn't know about it at the time, but our freezer wasn't working. I cooked it up and ate it and thought I was going to die with the crushing pain inside my chest and stomach. Really bad indigestion. But, it hurt bad. And, then when I was pregnant, I had to take Tums or Rolaids daily due to constant indigestion. I think it was more acid reflux.
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
1 Oct 08
It sounds like it. I am on pills for it and I also take prolosic OTC for mine. I know since I quit smoking again I am not as much pain from it as I was before.
@GreenMoo (11833)
7 Oct 08
I'm neither a doctor not a botanist, but I thought I'd read somewhere that spicy peppers would not kill you even if you ate stacks of them. I think that is because the reaction that you get from them is on the wrong part of the body. I suppose though that different people can develop allergies to different substances, so it's always possible that this guy had an allergy to peppers. It sounds more likely to me though that it was something else in the dish which caused the problem.
@lakantar (1573)
• Greece
2 Oct 08
Don't know if they can be fatal but they can give a person an unpleasant time in the toilet :P hehe
• Philippines
1 Oct 08
everything that goes beyond moderation like too much spice is really bad. thats the rule of life. everything should be in moderation. haha!