The delicious burn of a really good curry or salsa or Sichuanese hot pot – that fiery goodness that makes you sweat and flush – is for many people one of life’s great pleasures. The search for the most profound scorch is a hobby of sorts, perhaps even an obsession.
對很多人來說，人生的樂趣，莫過于品嘗美味的正宗咖喱、莎莎或者四川火鍋，那種燃情的美味會讓人汗流浹背，臉漲得通紅。尋找最深處的焦灼感是一種愛好，甚至可能是一種癡迷。
And hot-hunters are safe in the knowledge that although capsaicin, the spicy molecule in hot peppers, is activating receptors in pain neurons in their mouths, it’s not really causing any damage. Give it a few minutes, and the feeling that you’ve torched yourself will fade.
逐辣者明白，盡管紅辣椒中的辣分子-辣椒素-會激活食用者嘴部的痛感神經(jīng)，但它并不會造成任何傷害。過幾分鐘，那種點燃你的感覺就會慢慢消退。
Well, until someone gets hurt.
然而，直到有人受傷。
Chillies are rated on a spiciness scale known as Scoville – a grading of heat that goes from the lowly bell pepper (0) right up to the fearsomely named Carolina Reaper (2.2 million). And while everyday amounts of spicy food are unlikely to do any harm, thrill-seekers have had some disconcerting experiences.
辣椒根據(jù)辛辣度(也就是眾所周知的辣度單位)進行分級， 辣度最低的是甜椒(0),的是令人生畏的卡羅萊納死神辣椒(220萬)。盡管每天大量被攝入的辛辣食品不太可能會造成傷害，但是追逐刺激者確實有一些令人不安的經(jīng)歷。
In 2014, two journalists from The Argus, a newspaper in the British city of Brighton, went to test out burgers at a local restaurant rated highly on TripAdvisor. They each took a bite of the XXX Hot Chilli Burger, a specialty of the house made with hot sauce touted by the owner to score higher on the Scoville scale than pepper spray. The pain was unendurable – one reporter immediately swallowed a great deal of milk to try to stave it off, the newspaper reported. The other began to have severe stomach pains, lost the feeling in his hands, and began to shake and hyperventilate. His colleague was also seized with pain despite his efforts, and both had to go to the hospital. “I was in so much pain,” one said, “I felt like I was dying.”
2014年，兩名來自英國布萊頓本地報紙《阿格斯》的記者，前往《旅行指南》高度評價的一家當?shù)夭蛷d進行漢堡試吃。他們每人嘗了一口XXX麻辣漢堡(這款漢堡的辣醬是店主配制的特色醬，在辣度單位上的得分高于辣椒噴霧)。這次嘗試帶來的痛苦讓人難以忍受-據(jù)報道，一名記者馬上吞下大量牛奶，想要緩解痛苦。另外一名記者開始出現(xiàn)嚴重的胃部疼痛，手部麻木，開始顫抖，大口呼吸。盡管做出了努力，他的同事仍然飽受疼痛，兩個人都不得不去醫(yī)院。一個人說：“我感到如此痛苦。我覺得我正在死去?！?BR> Let’s come back to the basic biology of capsaicin. This molecule may have evolved as an anti-fungal agent for the plants that bore it. But, to humans’ joy and fascination and fear, it happens to activate certain neurons responsible for the perception of pain. Those particular neurons send a message of heat to the brain, whether the cells are activated by an actual burn or by a hot pepper. The physical effects of eating peppers can be seen as reactions to what might be — from the body’s perspective — real burns, says Bruce Bryant, a biologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Sweating is an adaptation for cooling off. Triggered pain neurons release substances that cause blood vessels to widen, resulting in inflammation, the better to supply the damaged area with blood and the body’s first responders.
讓我們回顧一下辣椒素這一基本生物體。這種分子(辣椒素)可能已經(jīng)演化為培育它的植物的抗真菌劑。但是，對于人類的喜悅、著迷和恐懼而言，它恰巧激活了負責接收痛覺的特定神經(jīng)元。無論細胞是否是被真實的燃燒或者辣椒激活的，那些特別的神經(jīng)元向大腦發(fā)出火熱的信號。費城莫奈爾化學感官中心生物學家布魯恩說，從身體的角度而言，吃辣椒產(chǎn)生的生理效果和真實燃燒是相同的。出汗是降溫的一種自適應反應。被觸發(fā)的疼痛神經(jīng)元將釋放引起血管擴張的物質(zhì)，導致炎癥，這樣可以為受損的區(qū)域更好的提供血液。這是身體的第一反應。
When that Carolina Reaper hits your stomach lining and you retch, “that response is because there are pain-sensing nerve endings in the stomach”, says Bryant. “The body says, ‘I don’t care if it’s a thermal burn or a chemical, but I’m going to get rid of it.’”The responses that your body might have if you’d swallowed a caustic substance come into play with high levels of capsaicin because that is, after all, what the molecule mimics. Those burn-sensing neurons, in your mouth, stomach, and elsewhere, are going to do their thing whether what you’ve swallowed will really kill you or just give you some discomfort on the toilet.
布魯恩說：“當卡羅萊納死神辣椒接觸你的胃黏膜時，你會覺得惡心。之所以有這種反應，是因為你的胃里有痛感神經(jīng)。你的身體說‘我不在乎這是熱灼傷或是化學灼傷，但是我要擺脫它?！蹦阃滔赂g性物質(zhì)后，身體做出的反應可能和吞下高水平辣椒素的反應一樣，畢竟這是種分子模擬。那些你嘴里，胃里和身體各處感受燒灼感的神經(jīng)元，將會開始它們的行動，無論你吞下的東西是否真的會殺死你，或者只是讓你產(chǎn)生一些不適?！?BR> But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says.
但是，就吃辣椒而言，除了幾個小時、一天或者幾天很嚴重的不適外，本質(zhì)上并沒有長期的危險。然而，布魯恩說，生物學家已經(jīng)觀察到，在年輕的哺乳動物中長時間施用辣椒素，確實會導致疼痛神經(jīng)元死亡。
Interestingly, there is even a theory that pepper plants might have developed the molecule as a way to deter mammals from chewing up their seeds. Birds, which eat pepper seeds whole and helpfully spread them in their faeces, do not have the necessary receptors to feel the burn. But in humans, pepper plants have encountered a special kind of mammal that courts the feeling.
有趣的是，有一個理論甚至提出，辣椒植物可能已經(jīng)培養(yǎng)出一種阻礙哺乳動物咀嚼辣椒種子的分子。鳥類并沒有接受燒灼感的特定部分，他們整吞辣椒種子，通過糞便傳播種子。但是人類是一種特殊的哺乳動物，人有感覺。
Luckily for the pepper, this does not seem to have damaged its fortunes.
幸運的是，這似乎沒有破壞辣椒的命運。
對很多人來說，人生的樂趣，莫過于品嘗美味的正宗咖喱、莎莎或者四川火鍋，那種燃情的美味會讓人汗流浹背，臉漲得通紅。尋找最深處的焦灼感是一種愛好，甚至可能是一種癡迷。
And hot-hunters are safe in the knowledge that although capsaicin, the spicy molecule in hot peppers, is activating receptors in pain neurons in their mouths, it’s not really causing any damage. Give it a few minutes, and the feeling that you’ve torched yourself will fade.
逐辣者明白，盡管紅辣椒中的辣分子-辣椒素-會激活食用者嘴部的痛感神經(jīng)，但它并不會造成任何傷害。過幾分鐘，那種點燃你的感覺就會慢慢消退。
Well, until someone gets hurt.
然而，直到有人受傷。
Chillies are rated on a spiciness scale known as Scoville – a grading of heat that goes from the lowly bell pepper (0) right up to the fearsomely named Carolina Reaper (2.2 million). And while everyday amounts of spicy food are unlikely to do any harm, thrill-seekers have had some disconcerting experiences.
辣椒根據(jù)辛辣度(也就是眾所周知的辣度單位)進行分級， 辣度最低的是甜椒(0),的是令人生畏的卡羅萊納死神辣椒(220萬)。盡管每天大量被攝入的辛辣食品不太可能會造成傷害，但是追逐刺激者確實有一些令人不安的經(jīng)歷。
In 2014, two journalists from The Argus, a newspaper in the British city of Brighton, went to test out burgers at a local restaurant rated highly on TripAdvisor. They each took a bite of the XXX Hot Chilli Burger, a specialty of the house made with hot sauce touted by the owner to score higher on the Scoville scale than pepper spray. The pain was unendurable – one reporter immediately swallowed a great deal of milk to try to stave it off, the newspaper reported. The other began to have severe stomach pains, lost the feeling in his hands, and began to shake and hyperventilate. His colleague was also seized with pain despite his efforts, and both had to go to the hospital. “I was in so much pain,” one said, “I felt like I was dying.”
2014年，兩名來自英國布萊頓本地報紙《阿格斯》的記者，前往《旅行指南》高度評價的一家當?shù)夭蛷d進行漢堡試吃。他們每人嘗了一口XXX麻辣漢堡(這款漢堡的辣醬是店主配制的特色醬，在辣度單位上的得分高于辣椒噴霧)。這次嘗試帶來的痛苦讓人難以忍受-據(jù)報道，一名記者馬上吞下大量牛奶，想要緩解痛苦。另外一名記者開始出現(xiàn)嚴重的胃部疼痛，手部麻木，開始顫抖，大口呼吸。盡管做出了努力，他的同事仍然飽受疼痛，兩個人都不得不去醫(yī)院。一個人說：“我感到如此痛苦。我覺得我正在死去?！?BR> Let’s come back to the basic biology of capsaicin. This molecule may have evolved as an anti-fungal agent for the plants that bore it. But, to humans’ joy and fascination and fear, it happens to activate certain neurons responsible for the perception of pain. Those particular neurons send a message of heat to the brain, whether the cells are activated by an actual burn or by a hot pepper. The physical effects of eating peppers can be seen as reactions to what might be — from the body’s perspective — real burns, says Bruce Bryant, a biologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Sweating is an adaptation for cooling off. Triggered pain neurons release substances that cause blood vessels to widen, resulting in inflammation, the better to supply the damaged area with blood and the body’s first responders.
讓我們回顧一下辣椒素這一基本生物體。這種分子(辣椒素)可能已經(jīng)演化為培育它的植物的抗真菌劑。但是，對于人類的喜悅、著迷和恐懼而言，它恰巧激活了負責接收痛覺的特定神經(jīng)元。無論細胞是否是被真實的燃燒或者辣椒激活的，那些特別的神經(jīng)元向大腦發(fā)出火熱的信號。費城莫奈爾化學感官中心生物學家布魯恩說，從身體的角度而言，吃辣椒產(chǎn)生的生理效果和真實燃燒是相同的。出汗是降溫的一種自適應反應。被觸發(fā)的疼痛神經(jīng)元將釋放引起血管擴張的物質(zhì)，導致炎癥，這樣可以為受損的區(qū)域更好的提供血液。這是身體的第一反應。
When that Carolina Reaper hits your stomach lining and you retch, “that response is because there are pain-sensing nerve endings in the stomach”, says Bryant. “The body says, ‘I don’t care if it’s a thermal burn or a chemical, but I’m going to get rid of it.’”The responses that your body might have if you’d swallowed a caustic substance come into play with high levels of capsaicin because that is, after all, what the molecule mimics. Those burn-sensing neurons, in your mouth, stomach, and elsewhere, are going to do their thing whether what you’ve swallowed will really kill you or just give you some discomfort on the toilet.
布魯恩說：“當卡羅萊納死神辣椒接觸你的胃黏膜時，你會覺得惡心。之所以有這種反應，是因為你的胃里有痛感神經(jīng)。你的身體說‘我不在乎這是熱灼傷或是化學灼傷，但是我要擺脫它?！蹦阃滔赂g性物質(zhì)后，身體做出的反應可能和吞下高水平辣椒素的反應一樣，畢竟這是種分子模擬。那些你嘴里，胃里和身體各處感受燒灼感的神經(jīng)元，將會開始它們的行動，無論你吞下的東西是否真的會殺死你，或者只是讓你產(chǎn)生一些不適?！?BR> But, hours or a day or so of very serious discomfort aside, there don’t seem to be long-term dangers, per se, in eating very hot peppers. Biologists have observed, however, that administering capsaicin over long periods of time in young mammals does result in the death of the pain neurons, Bryant says.
但是，就吃辣椒而言，除了幾個小時、一天或者幾天很嚴重的不適外，本質(zhì)上并沒有長期的危險。然而，布魯恩說，生物學家已經(jīng)觀察到，在年輕的哺乳動物中長時間施用辣椒素，確實會導致疼痛神經(jīng)元死亡。
Interestingly, there is even a theory that pepper plants might have developed the molecule as a way to deter mammals from chewing up their seeds. Birds, which eat pepper seeds whole and helpfully spread them in their faeces, do not have the necessary receptors to feel the burn. But in humans, pepper plants have encountered a special kind of mammal that courts the feeling.
有趣的是，有一個理論甚至提出，辣椒植物可能已經(jīng)培養(yǎng)出一種阻礙哺乳動物咀嚼辣椒種子的分子。鳥類并沒有接受燒灼感的特定部分，他們整吞辣椒種子，通過糞便傳播種子。但是人類是一種特殊的哺乳動物，人有感覺。
Luckily for the pepper, this does not seem to have damaged its fortunes.
幸運的是，這似乎沒有破壞辣椒的命運。