The Body's Reaction to Spicy Foods
7th Grade · Health · 40 min
Lesson Preview
Learning Objective
I can describe how spicy foods affect the body.
- 1
The compound capsaicin, found in chili peppers, is responsible for the burning sensation we experience when eating spicy food.
- 2
The Scoville scale, created by Wilbur Scoville, measures a pepper's hotness in units ranging from 0 to 16 million.
- 3
Casein, a non-polar molecule found in milk and dairy products, can help extinguish the burn of capsaicin by dissolving and washing it away because 'like dissolves like'.
