Spicy Foods Can Help with Alcohol Cravings

What is capsaicin? Capsaicin is essentially what creates that heat sensation and irritation feeling you get when you eat peppers or hot sauce. Though the sensation usually feels “bad” when you first ingest them, the overall effects of this chemical is actually quite good. It’s so good for you however, that most healthcare creams for muscle and skin ache have capsaicin in them. Why? Well, when you apply it to the skin or muscles, capsaicin blocks the pain messages to the nerve endings. This makes it an effective common pain reliever.

When you ingest spicy foods, capsaicin does something even better for the brain. It stimulates the release of endorphins. Endorphins are hormones that are released in your brain when you’re stressed or in pain. They’re the “happy hormones” that your brain uses to naturally balance yourself out emotionally. This essentially means that you can induce “happiness” on a chemical level by eating spicy foods. Now, this doesn’t mean that you’ll be walking on Cloud 9 after downing a twelve piece basket of Jammin’ Jalapeño wings. It does, however, set you in a better headspace to fight your cravings for alcohol.

There’s more to spicy foods’ ability to help with alcohol cravings than just giving you a “better mood.” A study conducted through South Korea’s Pusan National University found an even more vital component to that notion. They found that capsaicin works the same way as alcohol in terms of activating the brain’s opioid/reward system. Receptors in the brain connected to the reward (or opioid) system that are triggered by alcohol consumption are also triggered by ingesting foods with capsaicin in them.

Due to the similar opioid stimulation that capsaicin offers the brain, lead author of the study, Sung-Gon Kim, had a helpful conclusion. He suggested that those in recovery might find spicy foods to work as a sort of “replacement therapy.” Although it wasn’t advised as an ultimate self-treatment, the suggestion does offer uniquely effective holistic options to subsiding alcohol cravings. This suggestion is especially helpful to those fresh out of treatment and in early recovery. This is due to capsaicin’s ability to help with withdrawal symptoms like nausea.

Remember the scenario from the beginning? Which type of person are you? If you’re more naturally prone to eating spicy foods, there’s both bad and good news for you. If you love the tingling, burning feeling of capsaicin when you eat, that means you have an easily triggered reward system. This might explain why you’re more prone to addictive substances. It’s the same as our taste buds. If you have more active “sweet” taste buds, you’re more likely to gravitate towards more and more sweet-tasting foods.

The good news is the opposite can be true. If you have a “sweet tooth,” you’ll be more likely to react negatively to overly savory snacks. The same can be said for an easily receptive reward system. Sung-Gon Kim and colleagues also concluded that anti-addiction drugs like Naltrexone could conversely be extremely beneficial to spice-lovers. Naltrexone blocks the euphoric and sedative effects of substances and is commonly used in medication-assisted treatment. So, whether you naturally like to set your mouth on fire or you’re just looking to manage your alcohol cravings, try including more spice in your life.