Re: [CH] "Thai hot" confusion :-)

Jim Graham (spooky130@cox.net)
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:49:50 -0500 

On Tue, Sep 18, 2007 at 06:07:09PM -0500, Dave Drum wrote:
> 
> Here's something that just struck me - my kid brother wrestled two out 
> of three with the Big Casino. And the chemo/radiation made him crave 
> spicy foods and increased his tolerance for heat.

I won't deny the possibility, but my tolerance for heat has been
building up gradually over about 10 years or more....  But...read on.

[major edit of what I'd just typed...sparing everyone the long and
probably boring story]

> He killed one the first night - allowing that they were "mildly spicy" 
> and asked for a couple jars to take home.

Here's a question:  does pickling pepper do anything to its heat levels?

> Then he told me that since the cancer treatments that his heat
> tolerances had gone through the roof - things had to be extreme in the
> heat ranges before he noticed any heat at all.

I definitely do know one thing:  cancer, chemo, radiation, cancer-related
medications, etc., very definitely do conspire to make major changes in
how your body reacts to different things.  One of my oncologists told me
once that it's impossible to take any given symptom (from the list I'd
given him of side effects I was feeling at the time...most of which I
still feel today) and point to its exact cause, due to the fact that,
with all my body has been through between all of the above, it's so
screwed up that you can no longer determine what caused what.

And, at least in my case, perception of flavor is most certainly one of
the things that's changed.  There are foods that I used to love that I
just really don't like anymore, and vice versa.  It is entirely possible
that part or all of my most recent increases in heat tolerance/craving
is the result of cancer and/or treatments and/or meds...but if asked,
even my doctors wouldn't be able to give you a better answer than that
(they're all Chinese---they think I'm nuts for eating such hot foods[1],
but they do acknowledge the health benefits).

So yes, it's certainly possible, even plausible...but it's also
difficult, if not impossible, to give a definite answer.

Later,
   --jim

[1] I gather, based on the Chinese places around here, that Chinese
    people eat only exceptionally mild foods.

-- 
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