When you ask for a meal that you think is very hot, what is the drink that you have to bring beside you to turn off the heat?
The answer is a glass of milk, according to a new study published on the website Futurity.
A study to determine the best drinks that reduce the feeling of heat of pepper and use the Capsicine, or the extract of hot pepper, which causes the burning sensation of excessive heat, that milk, whether full fat or free of it contributes to extinguish the heat of the pepper.
"We were interested in giving solutions containing pepper extract to many of the participants in the taste tests, and we were interested in feeling the burn that remains after the end of the experiment," says John Hayes, associate professor of food science at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Center for Sensory Assessment at the same university.
He adds that the frequent consumption of pepper and warm foods such as hot chicken wings and hot sauce, indicates that many people enjoy the feeling of burning caused by eating pepper.
The study involved 72 people, 42 women and 30 men, who were given five types of beverages containing pepper extract, and were asked to assess their initial feeling of taste immediately after ingestion.
drinks
Participants in subsequent experiments were asked to take regular water, soda water, cola, a cherry-flavored Cool-Aid drink, alcohol-free beer, skim milk, and whole-fat milk.
During eight trials, participants continued to evaluate their taste after drinking every 10 seconds for two minutes. Each beverage test included only one test.
Eating all the drinks, according to the study, reduced the feeling of burning when the pepper extract was taken, but researchers noted that eating whole milk, skimmed and skimmed, and "Cool Aid" reduced the feeling of burning more.
More research is needed to determine how these drinks can be reduced to burning after eating hot foods, according to researcher Alisa Nolden, an assistant professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts. She also believes that this is related to how the pepper extract interacted with fat, protein and sugar.
"We were not surprised by our data signal that milk is the best option to relieve the burning sensation, but we did not expect the efficacy of skimmed milk to reduce heartburn as full-fat milk," Nolden said. , Also suggests that the presence of protein may be more important than the presence of fat.
When all trials were completed, participants were asked to answer two questions: "How often do you consume hot food?" And "Do you like hot food?" According to Nolden, the researchers were hoping to find, through the participants 'answers, a link between participants' feeling of burn after eating the pepper extract and being accustomed to hot food, but the study did not.
Inactive drinks
Nolden says some hot food consumers may be surprised by the results of the study, but she says the results are predictable. Beverages containing carbonates such as soda and gaseous water are not expected to be effective in reducing burning sensation after peppercorns.
As for the effect of the Cool Aid drink, Nolden and her colleagues do not think it removes the warmth of pepper extract, but overcame it with its sweet taste.
Nolden sees the study as new because it included products on the market, making it easier to take advantage of them.