I have no spice tolerance. None at all. Like, I-find-black-pepper-and-Chipotle-beans-spicy kind of spice tolerance. However, many of my friends have great spice tolerances—they can handle the spicy candies, hot sauces, and chips. Fortunately, I am comforted in knowing that it’s not my fault for not being able to tolerate spice… it’s my genes. Kinda. According to one study, 18-58 percent of spice tolerance comes from genetics. Thanks, Mom and Dad! Some people are simply born with fewer receptors for capsaicin, the irritant found in spicy peppers that makes them hot. When you eat capsaicin, it binds to the tongue’s pain receptors, which then causes the heat receptors in your skin to trigger, giving that burning feeling.
Thankfully, hope is not all lost! Spice tolerances can change over time through desensitizing yourself to the spice levels. After not eating spicy foods for a month, a group of people were found to have improved their spice levels 40% in five days by eating spicy foods daily. Plus, eating spicy foods can help with your health—there’s been research that may suggest ingesting foods with spice can improve lifespans, increase metabolism, and speed up feelings of fullness, although these are technically unconfirmed.
Unfortunately for me, I don’t think I’ll be experiencing these benefits since even after trying to improve my tolerance, I still can’t handle anything that’s not “white girl spicy.” Maybe I’ll magically gain an amazing spice tolerance but until then, anytime I have anything with a drop of heat I’m forced to exclaim, “This might as well be fire!”