Hiccups

[aadenny]

Why does very hot and spicy food make us hiccup? Chiilis and very hot curries, especially.

[larabell]

This doesn't happen to me, but I assume that it's do do with the fact that people tend to gulp in more air with spicy food in an attempt to cool down the mouth.

[incitatus]

Hiccups are a spasm in the diaphragm. What causes the spasm varies frm person to person. Swallowing air is less likely to be the cause than the gullet irritation which occurs with spicy foods. Another possibility is hyperventilation as the condition seems to be linked to the partial pressure of co2 in the blood.

[aadenny]

I often hiccup when I eat certain very hot foods. Nothing to do with gulping air or large quantities; I will often hiccup with just the first forkful of a chili pickle, say. It's not a serious problem, and in some ways I rather enjoy the experience, not least because it is controllable, and a little drinking washes away the tendency after a minute or so. Then again, I don't hiccup when I drink a lot of alcohol. dipsomaniacs are stereotypically portrayed as hiccuppers, aren't they? So perhaps I an unusual. I presume the heat of the chili pepper is stimulating the reflex in some way directly in the throat. It happens very quickly after eating something hot -- sometimes within a minute - so it's probably not something absorbed in the bloodstream and working on the brain, but locally.

[incitatus]

Yes, local irritation can do it. Another possibility is a hiatus hernia.....

[anpusat]

Not really an answer, but if you have hiccups, squeeze your earlobe very tightly. After a moment, it'll go. Never fails - even works on children.