How hot sauce saved one man’s life

Randy Schmitz was vacationing with his family in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last summer when he decided to take on a hot sauce challenge that ultimately saved his life.

The 30-year-old experienced a seizure after attempting to hold a toothpick with hot sauce on it in his mouth while at the Pepper Palace.

SEE ALSO: Spicy food can help lower the risk of a high-fat diet

When Schmitz woke up, he was heading to the hospital with no clue what had just happened to him.

“I’ve done some other challenges in the past – this was possibly the worst one,”  he toldABC News. “I made it the five minutes. My sister then said she wanted to take the challenge, but I said, ‘You might want to hold off, I’m feeling really sick.’ My head was feeling really off,” he said. “Next thing I know, I wake up in a stretcher in a hospital hallway covered in vomit and I had no clue what had happened.”

The following MRI revealed Schmitz had a brain tumor. If he hadn’t taken the hot sauce challenge, it’s possible doctors would not have discovered the cancerous growth in enough time to successfully remove it, though there is no definitive proof the hot sauce was to blame.

Chilies do have an interesting effect on the brain, however. According to materials from Northwestern University, the hot sensation associated with eating chili products like hot sauce is due to compounds called capsaicinoids, the most well-known of which is capsaicin. When these compounds hit the tongue (or sometimes other parts of the body) they interact with a protein on nerve cells creating the same reaction as if those cells were exposed to high temperatures. This reaction then triggers the release of endorphins- the body’s natural pain relievers?in the brain to combat the sensation of heat.

While this explains why some people love spicy food, it could also be a reason why someone with a brain tumor became suddenly ill. With so many changes occurring in the brain so quickly, the presence of a tumor could have caused too much pressure and inflammation and this resulted in a seizure. The National Library of Medicine indicates increased cranial pressure is one of the primary causes of seizures, and a tumor alone, without any additional stimulation, could have caused the event.

Schmitz is grateful either way that events happened as they did. He returned home to Illinois, where he had surgery to remove the tumor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He is now doing well, and finished his radiation treatments in time for his wedding.

SEE ALSO: Chili and cayenne peppers: surprisingly good for you

“They don’t know exactly how long it was in there, so it would have just kept growing and might have gotten to the point where they couldn’t remove it,” he said. “My life would have been over.”

Pepper Palace released a statement saying they were proud to be a part of the success story and humbled to know something as innocuous as hot sauce could have made such a big difference in someone’s life.