Talk:Capsaicin

I'm adjusting the following section to make it not imply that it has been confirmed as a neurotoxin for humans:

"It is a chemical irritant and neurotoxin[6] for mammals, including humans, and produces a sensation of burning in any tissue with which it comes into contact."

[6] is:

"Ritter S, Dinh TT (June 1990). "Capsaicin-induced neuronal degeneration in the brain and retina of preweanling rats". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 296 (3): 447–461. doi:10.1002/cne.902960310. "

This study does not involve humans. Please do not revert this edit unless you are adding source for the human claim. Aveaoz (talk) 20:28, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

I'm new here, so forgive me if this is in the wrong spot. The "Treatment after exposure" section of the article says:

"The primary treatment is removal of the offending substance. Plain water is ineffective at removing capsaicin.[30]"

However, source 30 specifically lists flushing with water as the treatment for eye and skin contact. This seems like a bit of a mismatch to me. While I agree with the claim that plain water is ineffective (I've tried drinking water after eating hot peppers), it seems like we should use a different source here. Jovan04 (talk) 17:25, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for noticing. A quick fix I'm thinking of is to simply make the wording less absolute, e.g., "Plain water is ineffective at removing capsaicin in most situations".

Also, consider that "ineffective" might be referring to cases of people ingesting really, really large amounts of capsaicin, while the "flush water (first)" is probably referring to accidencial / unintended spilling of capsaicin - to the eye, for example - where it is perceived immediately as unpleasant and thus withdrawing from the exposure before it gets to the point of being toxic / more than a problem water can solve.

I believe if one were to submerge their arms inside barrels of (room temperature) Sichuan hotpot soup for a long time, the resulting pain would also require more than just flowing water to completely dull, just as if it were ingested. But it seems our skins don't have the exquisite and lofty taste as our oral counterparts do, so most people never needed to ask "how do I remove devil ghost pepper from my arm".^[Joke]

tl;dr - Flowing water is certainly better than nothing, and cases where humans willfully expose themselves to extreme levels of capsaicin to the point where flowing water just aren't enough, are mostly oral. 海盐沙冰 _{/ aka irisChronomia / Talk} 22:03, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, I like the idea of making the claim less absolute, but I think it's still a good idea to communicate the "water isn't great, but it's better than nothing" nuance. What do you think about rewording that paragraph to something like this?

"The primary treatment is removal of the offending substance. Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol, which can be used to clean contaminated items[30]. Plain water is ineffective at removing capsaicin in most situations, but flushing continuously with water may be used when no alternative is available, such as when treating the eyes or skin[30]."

I swapped the order of the last two sentences because cleaning with alcohol is a general solution, and flushing with water is used as an exception where alcohol isn't applicable (i.e. eyes). I'm not sure how I feel about the last phrase - it feels a little wordy to me. Let me know your thoughts.

That does make me wonder whether rubbing my arms in alcohol would help remove 'devil ghost pepper'. I guess I'll be buying some vodka and making a large pot of sichuan hotpot this weekend.^[Joke] Jovan04 (talk) 23:19, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Was also thinking either "ineffective at completely removing", or "ineffective at removing capsaicin in high concentration / in high doses". But it reads much better than before either way!

The alcohol-hotpot thing got me thinking, because it's indeed popular to pair alcohol with hotpot (or steamy hot food in general). I've never realized alcohol has ~2,000 times the solubility for capsaicin than water and that that might've added to its painkilling effects as a central nervous system depressant). The 2k times is from this product sheet of 95%-pure capsaicin, where "as a crystalline solid [...] capsaicin is soluble in organic solvents such as ethanol [..., at] at least 30mg/ml.", which is 2300x the water's 13µg/ml (for pure alcohol). After accounting for alcohol content, (let's be extremely generous and say it's some carbonated 3.5% fruit punch) it's still at about 80x. 海盐沙冰 _{/ aka irisChronomia / Talk} 05:01, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Sounds good. I'm not familiar with the process here - is there any kind of approval or anything I need to go through, or do I just go ahead and make the edit?

And yeah, I can't say I've ever tried drinking alcohol to help with hot peppers, but now I'm interested in testing it out. Honestly, the solubility was the first thing that came to mind for me; I hadn't thought about the fact that it's a depressant as well. Jovan04 (talk) 08:05, 1 March 2026 (UTC)