Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => Organic Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: hotsauceking8 on May 17, 2006, 04:04:29 PM
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I am on a mission to neutralize the oral burn sensation caused by the capsacin elements in hot peppers.
I have tried tons of home remedies but,none are really succesful. my question for you....is there a known chemical cure for this?
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Its an interesting puzzle, however, I don't believe there is an instant cooling remedy for capsaicin's burning effects. I like to drink milk generally, and have found that it is very good at relieving the burning sensation of capsaicin. I think its because it has calcium caseinate in it which removes the capsaicin from the nerve receptor binding sites better than other chemicals.
Also, capsaicin is very miscible with fats, oils and alcohols, but not that miscible with water, so a fatty drink like milk would also help wash away the capsaicin. Ethanol (and consequently ethanal) are poisonous so I wouldn't try drinking alcoholic drinks. ;)
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Thanks for the input. I too have tried milk and yogurt in my quest for the cure.
I have also heard individuals say that eating more hotsauce will help. Unfortunatly
I have found this UNTRUE. More hotsauce does not help. But dairy has temporary
relief agents. I have little knowledge of the chemical composure of capsacin, only
that it is an oil and most liquids only spread it around the mouth, causing worse
burning. Can you guys with chemical expertise please research the raw element that
causes capsacin to be hot and possible neutralizers. Your help will greatly be appreciated
by many and definatly not forgotten.
hotsauceking8@bellsouth.net
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The best remedy is not to use a hot pepper.
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Apparently, indian youghurt drink works well.
However, I love the burning sensation. It makes Indian food terrific :D
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Any use?
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=5329&pid=60453
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Capsacian hits some of the nerve receptors in the mouth (and in other places too, actually) and tends to stick there pretty fiercely. This has the effect of a sharp burning sensation at first, followed by a kind of numbness afterwards. This has actually led to a lot of research using capsacian and similar compounds as anti-inflammatory agents. The idea is that you would take a medication that would bind to your pain receptor (the same way capsacian does) and then, since it binds so tightly, other irritant molecules can't get into the receptor and cause further irritation. I think it's a really cool approach to pharmaceuticals!!
Anyway, I had heard that capsacian is not soluble in water or alcohol, so those beverages are right out. As said above, milk contains a fair amount of lipids, in which capsacian is soluble. So when you drink milk, the capsacian gets sucked out of the pain receptors in your mouth and then gets washed away. Water and alcohol can't do this because the capsacian isn't soluble, so it just stays on the receptor. Alcoholic beverages are also predominantly water, so the alcohol can't have as much of an effect.
I hope this info is useful.
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I can see the logic behind consuming more hot sauce, although I wouldn't do it.
The logic would have to be you overwhelm the nerves and deplete them of their neurotransmitters. No neurotransmitters = a tired out nerve that doesn't perform its job. Research the exact nerve(s) it binds to.
Also, you build up a resistance to spicy food overtime.
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I wouldn't like to try it personally, but capsaicin binds selectively to vanilloid VR1 receptors, as an agonist, there is a somewhat more potent agonist, resiniferatoxin, also selective for VR1 receptors, its a phorbol diterpene found naturally in Euphorbia Resinifera.
Since this is the graduate/professional forum, I'm going to hazard a guess you might not be some guy who just ate too hot a curry, hehe.
the 5-iodinated analogue of resiniferatoxin is a VR1 antagonist, so potentially it could be what your looking for, although jesus H christ, I wouldn't want to test this one in vivo, as resiniferatoxin has a binding affinity to the VR1 receptor Ki=43pM ;D
4-Chloro-3-methoxycinnamanilide is perhaps a safer antagonist....
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Resiniferatoxin is an awesome molecule. It's a pretty beefy structure, for sure, but a very interesting synthetic target. Lots of possible approaches to synthesis.
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Anyway, I had heard that capsacian is not soluble in water or alcohol, so those beverages are right out.
oh well, I read that alcohol does the job..?? I would have thgought it might but I don't really know, I read elsewhere about people extracting it..
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I have seen claims that sugar is an effective antidote. It could be, however, that you need to mix the sugar with the hot souce before tasting.
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OK - If ethanol is a solvent for this active chemical then a good cure for the burns would be to garggle and rinse your mouth out with vodka!? :P
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But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times
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But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times
ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it. I personally do not know for sure, but, I have read somewhere that alcohol has been used as a solvent for capsaicin. Has this been discussed before in another thread or something because I couldn't possibly conclude from this thread if alcohol is or is not a solvent for the stuff - not based on one stranger thinking he MAY have heard it said somewhere before.
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But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times
ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.
It wasn't "one person", it was movies ;) And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru :)
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But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times
ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.
It wasn't "one person", it was movies ;) And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru :)
lol I was going to say the same thing! On the one hand, movies is right in saying that beer etc. wouldn't be a good 'antidote' because only a small percentage of most alcoholic drinks are C2H5OH. But I just did some searching on capsaicin and found that pure ethanol isn't that bad a solvent, these dudes even extracted capsaicin with it: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/specialty_crops/publications/reports/2004/ratnasharms_Capsaicin.htm.
I think 'P' probably got a bit annoyed with deadally's slightly aggreviating language! ;)
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But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times
ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.
It wasn't "one person", it was movies ;) And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru :)
I appreciate your faith in my comments above, but it does seem that I was a little off the mark on this one. According to the MSDS (http://www.caymanchem.com/msdss/92350m.pdf), it's soluble in alcohol, but not in water (0.1 mg/mL; for comparison, sugar is soluble to the tune of about 2 g/mL of water). I had heard that it wasn't soluble in alcohol on a cooking show (one of my other hobbies!) As I said above, I do think that the alcohol content in things like beer and wine will be way too low to overcome the insolubility in water. In my experience, beer (about 4-7% alcohol in water) is definitely insufficient! I have to admit, I haven't done the experiment with hard liquor though. You'd have to get to some pretty serious stuff though, I bet. Even scotch or vodka is only 40-50% alcohol, and that's also determined by volume, so it's really less that a 1:1 ratio of alcohol to water molecules since the density of ethanol is 3/4 that of water. So I guess if you want to take a shot of 151 or everclear every time you take a bite of something hot, that might work. I'd be impressed if you could finish your meal without passing out, or worse, having your spicy food come back in the reverse direction....
Sorry to cause such a stir in this thread, it was certainly unintended.
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My understanding is that EverClear would be an irritant if taken without dilution.
We use the word alcohol to mean alcoholic beverage, which can confuse the semantic purist.
Are not crackers the antidote?
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I'm not utterly convinced having it back up out of the wrong end, would be THAT much worse than a mixture of 95% EtOH+capsaicin coming out of the RIGHT end, at least, not for anyone within the nearest 15 meters or so ;)
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I'm not utterly convinced having it back up out of the wrong end, would be THAT much worse than a mixture of 95% EtOH+capsaicin coming out of the RIGHT end, at least, not for anyone within the nearest 15 meters or so ;)
LOL! Well said.
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But it's NOT a solvent for it. That's been said numerous times
ONE person above said that they 'heard' it wasn't a solvent for it.
It wasn't "one person", it was movies ;) And while he can be wrong as anyobody else, he is our organic guru :)
I appreciate your faith in my comments above, but it does seem that I was a little off the mark on this one. According to the MSDS (http://www.caymanchem.com/msdss/92350m.pdf), it's soluble in alcohol, but not in water (0.1 mg/mL; for comparison, sugar is soluble to the tune of about 2 g/mL of water). I had heard that it wasn't soluble in alcohol on a cooking show (one of my other hobbies!) As I said above, I do think that the alcohol content in things like beer and wine will be way too low to overcome the insolubility in water. In my experience, beer (about 4-7% alcohol in water) is definitely insufficient! I have to admit, I haven't done the experiment with hard liquor though. You'd have to get to some pretty serious stuff though, I bet. Even scotch or vodka is only 40-50% alcohol, and that's also determined by volume, so it's really less that a 1:1 ratio of alcohol to water molecules since the density of ethanol is 3/4 that of water. So I guess if you want to take a shot of 151 or everclear every time you take a bite of something hot, that might work. I'd be impressed if you could finish your meal without passing out, or worse, having your spicy food come back in the reverse direction....
Sorry to cause such a stir in this thread, it was certainly unintended.
LoL! Sorry - I didn't mean to sound aggrivated at all I was just questioning the statement - as it goes movies explains it exactly as I saw it here (with the insolubility in the water of the beverage out weighing the solubility of the small % alcohol). My comment about the vodka wasn't all that serious really - I just didn't agree with the statement that the solubility had been 'discussed to death on numerous occasions' because it had only been mentioned once.
:)
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HI hot people!Here in Brasil when we get really hot food (most in Bahia, the carnival state!) we use to drink a small spoon of olive oil. It works very well against capsaician. It has another benefit:somehow your hangover will be very light next morning!!
Alfredo.
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Menthol have similar effect as capsacin so i think it can be used as "antidot" on competition priciple :P