Spicy food has quite the reputation.
Unfortunately, this means that spicy ingredients are held accountable for any number of problems, one of which is a sore throat.
Is there any connection?
Let’s take a look.
How Bad Is Your Sore Throat?
In a moment, we’ll discuss the potential connection between eating spicy food and having a sore throat.
However, at the moment, if you’re legitimately having trouble breathing, you need medical attention.
We’re about to discuss the possible reasons behind spicy food and a sore throat being connected, but you could be having an allergic reaction to any number of things, which means you need medical attention.
Are Spicy Food and a Sore Throat Connected?
In short, no.
Put another way, it’s more complicated than that.
The truth of the matter is that there are so many ways to ingest spicy foods that it can be difficult to find the single source.
Therefore, yes, spicy food and a sore throat may be 100% related. That being said, let’s explore some other reasons before you give up Buffalo wings.
Other Problems That Have Nothing to Do with Spicy Food
A sore throat can be caused by any number of things. You could be experiencing issues that having nothing to do with the spicy food you ate, despite what the evidence says.
This is a reoccurring problem associated with spicy food. A lot of times, eating spicy food and having sore throat are seen as correlating despite the fact that they have nothing to do with each other.
The Case Against Spicy Food
A sore throat may be caused by your love of spicy foods, to be fair. Before you make that connection, though, it’s important to understand why this may be.
Chili peppers get their kick because of a compound known as capsaicin. In short, this organic chemical makes your brain thing that actual heat is near. That’s why people often describe spice as heat.
When you eat something spicy, your brain literally thinks actual heat is involved.
Therefore, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to understand why a lot of spicy food and a sore throat would go hand-in-hand.
To put simply, your throat may tell your brain that you are swallowing fire.
How Does a Throat Get That Sensitive?
This is a vital question where the spicy food equation is concerned.
Modern throats handle all kinds of damage on a regular basis. Let’s look at some of those reasons and see if your current problem is easier to explain
A Damage Esophagus
The mechanism that stands between your mouth and a caldron full of acid is your esophagus.
Generally, it’s a pretty benign piece of your anatomy. However, one of the duties it’s supposed to carry out is keeping things separate: what happens in your mouth and in your stomach is not to be mixed.
At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen.
Sometimes, though, your esophagus stops working correctly. This has nothing to do with spicy food.
A sore throat is the natural result, though. That’s because the barrier no longer exists. When your stomach is recruiting all kinds of acid to break down your food, some of it naturally ends up in your throat. The result is a lot of pain.
Then Why Does Spicy Food Correlate to a Sore Throat?
This is a loaded question.
So stay tuned, as we take it apart.
The first reason is simple. Some people have sensitive stomachs. What this means is that their stomachs are accustomed to a certain pH level. If that pH level gets too high, it understandably freaks out and tries to get it back to normal.
This is a natural reaction. It’s a good reaction. Still, it might cause some pain. Your body is trying to lower the pH level in your intestines, so if your esophagus isn’t completely closed, you’re going to feel a burn.
The Problem May Be Elsewhere
One of the issues that happens again and again is that people blame spicy food for any number of problems despite the fact that it’s not involved.
Put another way, spicy food may be an accomplice, but it’s not the actual guilty party.
Let’s look at why.
You Have a Sensitive Stomach
We already touched on why this might be, but it’s vital that you appreciate why.
A number of food items could be the reason you have a sore throat.
The first is that you might have allergies.
Sure, it could be pollen or animal hair.
It could also be that you’re gluten-intolerance which is essentially the same thing. This means you can eat spicy food. Your sore throat, though, is because of the breading on your chicken wing or some other ingredient involved.
Similarly, you might not be able to eat peanuts. Everyone knows there’s a major allergy related to this legume. What most people don’t know, though, is that it often has minor effects like an irritated throat.
How to Find Out if Spicy Food Is to Blame
Fortunately, I have a very simple test you can take to figure out if spicy food is behind your sore throat.
It could be because of any of the aforementioned reason.
In any case, all you have to do is sit down and eat a pepper or two. If you like spicy food, a couple jalapenos shouldn’t be a big deal. Eat one or two and see what happens.
This is isolating the potential problem. If you have a sore throat after eating them and especially if you experience acid reflux, then obviously peppers are a problem. Stop eating them until a doctor tells you otherwise. They may tell you that you can’t have them anymore.
Otherwise, it should become obvious that the problem has something to do with a secondary ingredient. As we mentioned, you may have an allergy related to gluten.
Spicy food can cause all kinds of different reactions, which is why they get an undeserved bad rep. If you think spicy food is behind your discomfort, take our above advice to heart and experiment a bit.