Paging Dr. Gupta…you’re dead wrong about hot stuff, doctor.
Linda pointed out an article to me that I couldn’t just let slip by. I hope this is something that our chilehead followers will weigh in with their comments. On Dr. Gupta’s CNN blog, he recently published an entry called:
There’s more to hot sauce than just heat
In one part of his article, he refers to a Baltimore doctor by the name of Spiro Antonaides (which we wrote about in a post called Hot Sauce and Weight Loss) who
came up with the idea to down a shot of hot sauce every time he got a craving for something unhealthy, like doughnuts or cookies.
Besides casually dismissing any notion of science to Dr. Antonaides’ book, Dr. Gupta goes one step further. He writes:
But be careful. Capsaicin can also be harmful. Take a lot of it, and you can actually send your body into shock. Research on capsaicin’s bad side is still in the early stages, but scientists have found that it can cause some tough side effects: abnormal blood clotting, blistering of the skin and severe diarrhea. Long-term use can lead to kidney and liver damage, so go easy.
Dr. Gupta, are you out of your friggin’ mind? Since he quoted this like it was some sort of scientific fact, I noticed that at least one other doctor chimed in on his so-called science. This response was:
Dr. Gupta,
In your blog you state, “There’s no science to it. It’s really simple behavior modification.” Please take note that behavior modification is a science. Please do not discredit my science and I will not discredit yours.
Posted By Dr. Brad A. Dufrene, Hattiesburg, MS
and this reply:
Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chile peppers, toxic? I just finished digging in PubMed for information on that subject. Please provide citations (I couldn’t find a single paper on the drastic effects you mentioned) or retract the comments.
One paper mentioned transient hypotension in dogs, but not in any way sufficient to provoke syncope or any signs of shock. Nephrotoxic effects? No data. Hepatotoxic effects? The ONE paper I saw indicated a protective effect of capsaicin in the presence of other compounds toxic to the liver.
There were a few indications of epithelial tissue damage with chronic high-dose application in Wistar rats, but again, this isn’t on the level any human would be likely to use.
Posted By LisaM, Sparks NV
Brilliant. Positively brilliant. It inspired me to send my own reply to Dr. Gupta. Let’s see if this ever appears as a comment on his blog:
Dr. Gupta,
Your information that capsaicin is harmful is both inaccurate and misleading. Only someone foolish enough to attempt to ingest pure biochemical-grade capsaicin (at 16 million Scoville) could hope to do themselves harm. Otherwise for the rest of us that just eat hot sauce and chile peppers, all you can really hurt is your pride if you eat something too spicy for your tolerance. I’ve search for the other so-called “side effects” of capsaicin, and I can’t find them either. I suggest you get your facts straight as well. Chile peppers, with all their wonderful capsaicin, have been around for thousands of years, and I’ve never run across a documented case of someone suffering any of the effects you mentioned. As a physician myself, I try not to give my patients inaccurate or misleading info. Hopefully, you will review your information and make the changes so you are not doing the same.
Check out the CNN blog entry for yourselves. If you feel motivated, write a comment and tell Dr. Gupta what YOU think about his so-called information.
Joe out.
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Commented at January 27, 2007- 6:29 pm
Dr. Gupta = MORON!!
Commented at January 27, 2007- 6:50 pm
Drink a bottle of Satan’s Blood, and yes your body will go into shock. And you’ll get some fairly painful diarrhea. But anything, in great excess, will end up hurting you — even water.
As for the other effects, it’s pretty clear that he was just making stuff up.
Commented at February 2, 2007- 10:29 am
It’s pretty lame to post something negative that can affect people’s businesses and hobbies. If they’re going to post “medical” and “scientific” information, they should show sources so that intelligent people can verify for themselves and make their own decisions.
Most of the responses on that blog were pretty unintelligent, however, and very few to the point.
One thing I’d like to note is that Dr. Gupta didn’t post that entry. His blog was used, and therefore he should follow up on these things, but a non-doctor made the post, which could be the cause of it being inaccurate and inflammatory.
I think it’s more of a disclaimer than anything else, as posting a blog encouraging people to use hot sauce as a weight loss tool will invariably bring out the handful of fools who chug it until something really bad happens and then try to sue CNN.
The way it’s worded as practically factual in the same paragraph stating research is “in the early stages” leaves a statement such as “long term use can cause liver or kidney damage” looking a bit ridiculous.
How have we made the determination that liver or kidney damage can result from long term ingestion of products containing capsaicin? Are we only studying people who have lived generally healthy lives, but ingest capsaicin regularly and many of them are suffering from renal failure that is not likely to come from any other source?
I think others would agree that there are many chile pepper afficionados that have died in car accidents over the years. Are we to conclude that capsaicin can impair your ability to drive a motor vehicle?
I think it more likely that a person who has habits of excess is more likely to have several other more credible causes for liver or kidney damage, no? Are we even talking about hot sauces at this point? Or are we onto capsaicin itself in the form of supplements? If so, how long has the capsaicin suppliment been around in order to allow for long term usage.
What does ‘long-term use’ mean? They aren’t saying long term abuse or excess. The statement seems to imply the ingestion of any level of capsaicin in a regular manner through the course of a person’s lifetime will prove deadly. That’s some pretty heavy phrasing.
It’s well-known that chile peppers have the “ability to kill parasites in the gastro-intestinal tract”. I am imagining that anyone but a complete dolt could surmise that the unexpected mass extermination of a tract full of parasites could maybe cause a disruption in the system, just as antibiotics have a similar effect on the GI system. Maybe I’m wrong. It is, however, something one might consider prior to posting on a medical blog that a popular food item could be a deadly toxin. Or maybe not.
Quite possibly, Val Wadas-Willingham has no qualms about causing potentially major trauma to the all of the businesses who rely on the peppers indicted in her flagrant denouncement framed as a friendly warning.
I don’t see why any American business person would feel the need to bring a lawsuit against CNN just because unfounded and unsupported suppositions could cost them their livelihood, so I’m sure that helps to explain why Val was so cavalier in her treatment of the subject.
Commented at February 2, 2007- 7:52 pm
Bill,
Your long-winded post does hit the high points, being:
1. Don’t post suppositions about something and call it medical science.
2. If you want to call your points medical science, be prepared to back them up with data…or be told to shut the hell up.
3. Don’t be so cavalier about something that could cost people, both financially or otherwise, when you don’t have the facts.
The truth is out there somewhere about this, and people are likely working on it. Just don’t ask Dr. Gupta about it….
He (or whomever posts on his blog) just doesn’t know.
Commented at February 4, 2007- 3:21 pm
Hey now… don’t knock Dr. Gupta too badly. He may have been wrong, but his blog which led to my post resulted in an interview for me with Canadian Living magazine.
Joe & Linda, you are so right about people “likely working on this” I am doing a massive research project with one Dr. Fiore Lalla and as part of that project had the opportunity to interview Dr. Spiro Antoniades (you spelled his name wrong) on Friday. Nice guy, great sense of humour.
Even so, as I posted to Dr. Gupta, no less than three major Universities that I personally am aware of, have studied this and studies continue to be done.
Now if only the EPA would get off it’s arse and start considering chili peppers we could see fewer pesticides in the ones that are being sold at market.
T
Commented at February 4, 2007- 4:42 pm
Hey, Dr. Gupta has his name attached to that horrendous post, so he’s gotta take the heat for it.
On a side note, your research project sounds like a GREAT post for the readers here. Keep us updated on that, Tina!
Commented at February 5, 2007- 2:14 pm
Well, actually, I will keep you posted, but this particular project is unfortunately going to be going mainstream media (read paying publishers)… We’re hoping to actually publish it.
You guys get my “Naga Saga” and “In search of Fair Trade”… If you paid… you could have the scoop on the research project. hint hint.
T
Commented at February 5, 2007- 4:37 pm
Heh. I could say that we’re so poor that we can’t even pay attention…LOL! Maybe the next time you need surgery for something, I can do the anesthesia for nothing. That oughta be worth something, right?
Oh yeah…you have socialized medicine. Nevermind.
Commented at March 12, 2011- 10:53 pm
I guarantee you if you eat enough scoviles It will give you the worste Diarrhea you have ever experienced! I ate for grilled Habaneros and they blistered my intestines for a week I had the runs like never before!
Kind Regards
Alfred
Commented at July 4, 2012- 8:41 am
I have been drinking 1 or two (2) cups of ceyenne tea (1-2 pods to a cup) for almost a year. At first it was uncumfortably hot, but now I enjoy the taste. I previously had stomach pain which I no longer experience. I have also lost 25 to 30 pounds (down from 215 to 185). I’m 6’4″ and no longer have a ring of fat around my stomach.