1y ago

Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods

arstechnica.com Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods

The hot pepper linked to teen's death can cause arteries in the brain to spasm.

Harris Wolobah, a healthy 14-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, tragically died last Friday, hours after eating a single ultra-spicy tortilla chip seasoned with two of the hottest peppers in the world.

News @lemmy.world

Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods

arstechnica.com /health/2023/09/teens-death-after-eating-a-single-chip-highlights-risks-of-ultra-spicy-foods/

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28 comments

This chip has been on the market for literal years at this point and no one has died until now. I'm open to new information but I think it might be a case where the chip formula has changed, or maybe this was a condition they didn't know the child had, or any number of things.
I like spicy things. Sometimes what I enjoy is dangerous for others. I grieve for the child's parents and friends, but am waiting for more information to confirm that it was entirely the chip to blame.
I also think that we should remember that parents should be supervising these things. If my 11-year-old asked to do the challenge, I would've rightfully tried him first on something spicy that's much less spicy than this. I want to know what all this kid has tried before this challenge. If this was his first exposure to spicy things, then I think it's reasonable to be unsurprised. If that's not the case, I want to know.
- You're going to follow him around for the next nine years making sure he doesn't do any daft teenage things?
  Good luck with that.
  
  That's still not the company's fault then. If they cut themselves handling knives, is it the knives manufacturers fault?

I thought this was might just grieving parents blaming something coincidental, until reading this article. I didn't know that there are other cases of the spiciness of these new peppers seem to be causing problems for some people. Still no clear evidence, but it's possible there's something.
"These ultraspicy peppers may either contain a unique vasoactive substance, or there is a dose-related effect of capsaicin concentration that can trigger RCVS," the doctors concluded. "Further research in this area is needed to determine the exact pathophysiology of this phenomenon. This case provides further evidence that ingestion of hot peppers may lead to serious consequences and that further research is needed to assess their safety."
Emphasis mine.
- I don't think it's really as surprising as people in this thread seem to think.
  It's not just "ouch my mouth". Your body has an extreme, undeniable stress reaction to the chip. Its not inconceivable that could push an underlying condition over the edge.
  If this was a story about a sedentary 14 year old who died after being challenged to run a marathon with no training, people wouldn't be saying "Oh wow, I didn't think jogging could kill you".
  
  I had no idea you could die from jogging a marathon so I think you would be wrong about that. It seems to be very rare but can happen depending on your family history of heart attacks and things like obesity, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels for anyone else wondering about it. When you said sedentary I thought you meant if you don't exercise regularly you will die from doing exercise but it's not like that.
- Case provides further evidence. We know peppers can lead to serious consequences. Case in point, these chips have warning labels on them already. Don't eat if pregnant, nursing, heart condition, etc.
  That last one is the active player here. The kid had an undiagnosed heart condition. It's not his fault, it's not the fault of the chip maker either. It's just a sad happening. Not every sad happening needs to result in legal actions and regulations or ... anything, really. Guns are still legal after all, I don't want to hear fuck-all about banning fruits and vegetables.
- That emphasized line is typical when someone wants to ban something but doesn't have any proof that it's actually dangerous. See the US government and conservative's reasoning for keeping marijuana banned or the federal government banning vaping (while allowing cigarette sales to continue). In both cases the weak justification for the bans are "we don't like this stuff and there's not enough research proving it's safe!" Meanwhile they try to hamstring anyone who wants to conduct a study unless the objective of the study is to bolster the ban.
  
  And guns are still legal after countless school shootings, so don't hold your breath.
  
  It’s also typical when researchers notice an interesting phenomenon and decide they need to gather more data.

It surprises me that it is possible for capsaicin to kill someone. Maybe it is something else or a combination of things but I await further evidence.
I do like to eat spicy but I top out somewhere around habaneros. It would be good to know if the peppers might kill me. I already think I'm pretty careful with them, but I'll be more so if there's real danger.
Unfortunate for this kid. Best wishes to his family.

Humans: let's eat the substance that these plants make to keep the wrong animals from eating its fruit. Let's eat it for fun!
- You keep your grubby hands away from my fucking coffee.

Still no concrete proof it was actually the chip.
- That never stopped politicians from banning a wide array of drugs; I'm sure it won't stop them here, either.
  
  They made weed illegal after the prohibition on alcohol ended, so maybe chiles are next?