DungDaddy keeps on claiming that eating super hot food is a way to stop your hemorrhoids -- by cauterizing them, I guess. Is that the case? I don't see why chemical burns on a burst vein in your rectum would help things. Unless the pain of the burns is so bad that normal hemorrhoid pain pales in comparison... what do you think?

Dear Dave,

The substance that make peppers "hot" are called capsaicinoids. The primary one of these is capsaicin. Capsaicinoids make their presence known by setting off pain receptors in the mouth, causing the burning sensation, running noses and watery eyes.

Since the capsaicinoids are broken down in the stomach long before reaching the small intestine, it is now believed that this is not a cause of stomach ulcers as once thought. And since they don't cause ulcers in the stomach, it is highly unlikely that they would have enough potency to "cauterize" a hemorrhoid even further down the line.

This is not to say that spicy foods can't help reduce the symptoms of hemorrhoids though because one of the beneficial things about capsaicin is the anti-inflammatory/anti-coagulating effect that it produces.

A hemorrhoid is simply an engorged vein that can contain clots. If enough capsaicinoids are consumed to obtain the abovementioned effects, then the swelling of the affected veins would be reduced, and the thinner blood would flow more freely, thus eliminating or at least reducing the pain of the hemorrhoid.

Thanks for asking Motherload!

Motherload is a Certified Nurse Assistant as well as an IBS sufferer, which means she knows a lot about poop. Got a question for her? Ask it here. [1]