The analgesic effect and neural mechanism of spicy food intake

Abstract

Although published studies have shown that applying capsaicin to the skin can have an analgesic effect on other parts of the body, the impact of spicy food intake on pain perception and its neurological mechanism remains unclear. Thus, two studies utilizing questionnaires and experiments with event-related potential (ERP) technology were conducted to explore this question. Study 1 recruited 300 adults and found a negative correlation between spicy food cravings and pain perception in daily life. Study 2 involved 45 participants and examined behavioural and ERP responses to pain (including minor pain and moderate pain) stimuli following spicy and control treatments. Results showed that, compared to control treatments, spicy treatments led to shorter reaction times, lower accuracies and pain intensity ratings, less negative emotional responses, smaller N1 and P2 amplitudes, and shorter N1 and P2 latencies, especially for minor-pain stimuli. These findings indicate that spicy food intake may have an analgesic effect.