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

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Bodongs 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It didn't, there's obviously something else going on here

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I haven't dove too deep on the subject but iirc dying from capsaicin is so rare that it's most likely caused by an underlying health problem - which the one chip challenge clearly says "do not eat this if you have health complications". One death out of the millions of eaten chips clearly shows this was an anomaly.