Never Drink Water After Eating Spicy Foods

We, Indians, love spicy food. It gives us an enjoyable burning sensation in your mouth as we relish our meal. We all use many spicy items like red chilly, green chilly or pepper to make our dishes spicy and tasty.

But, do you know that we are following a wrong habit after eating spicy foods. Yes, that is we immediately drink cold water after eating spicy foods.

Once the sensation of burning due to a spicy food is initiated, you can start showing symptoms like a burning tongue, running nose and tearing of the eyes.

Actually, these are the reactions of your body to take the next necessary steps to remove this from your mouth. This happens due to a combined action of the pain receptors on your tongue and the signals that are sent back from the brain.

It is natural that we will opt for water as the first choice, when we try to get relief from the spicy sensation. However, studies prove that this is a wrong practice.

If you're wondering why you shouldn't drink water after eating spicy food, we will discuss more about the important reasons in this article.

What happens if you drink water after eating spicy foods? It can spread the spicy sensation to more parts in your mouth. Here, we will discuss on why you shouldn't drink water after eating spicy foods.

What Makes It Spicy?
The chemical that causes the spicy sensation in your mouth is capsaicin. It will bind to the pain receptors in your mouth, called the TRPV1 receptors.

This will transmit the impulse to brain and will impart the burning sensation of the spicy food. So, this is the basic mechanism that takes place when we eat spicy foods.

Is Water Effective In Managing Spice?
Studies show that the chemical capsaicin is a non-polar molecule. This will dissolve only in other non-polar substances. But, water is a polar substance that can not soothe the spicy feeling in your mouth. This is why you shouldn't drink water after eating spicy food.

What Water Can Do To A Spicy Mouth?
Instead of relieving pain, it can spread the whole spicy sensation to the other parts of your mouth. This can cause only an aggravation in the burning sensation due to spice.

Also, this burning sensation can make you feel more thirsty. This makes water an ineffective option for managing a spicy feeling.

How To Relieve A Spicy Sensation?
Use any other non-polar liquid to ease the pain due to spicy foods. For this, milk is considered as a good choice. Since it is non-polar in nature, it can dissolve the capsaicin in your food.

This will give an instant relief for your problem. Also, the casein present in dairy products can attract capsaicin to help relieve your pain.

How To Tolerate Spice?
If you are really crazy about spicy food, the best way to get tolerance for spice is to eat it regularly. Eating spicy food regularly will desensitize the pain receptors on your tongue.

This will help you to gradually increase the concentration of spicy food.

Since it is clear now what happens if you drink water after eating spicy foods, the next time when you bite on something that is completely out of your spice threshold, try to grab a cup of milk.