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Even after you spit the gum out, a little menthol will remain and the sensory neurons will stay sensitized. Drinking anything cold or even taking in a big breath of cool air will cause the neurons to fire again, and the double whammy of the cool temperature and the menthol will make your mouth seem extra cold. Even a hot drink will seem weirdly cool and refreshing. TRP-V1, another ion channel on the sensory neurons, displays a similar quirk. TRP-V1 is activated by hotter temperature, but also responds to capsaicin, the chemical responsible for the spiciness of hot peppers.
This can cause even ice cold drinks to feel hot. So what would happen if you ate a chili pepper that's been in the freezer, or a warmed up mint?
Or ate a hot pepper and a cool mint at the same time? Knocking back a bowl of mapo tofu is a delicious experience, but also one that will leave your tongue tingling and numb. This is thanks to Sichuan peppercorns, a common ingredient in certain regional Chinese, Himilayan, and Indonesian cuisines. They're not actually related to black pepper or hot peppers, and instead they contain a compound called hydroxy-alpha sanshool, which binds to neurons in the tongue that are responsible for sensing touch.
By binding to them, it blocks them from receiving any other signals, thus numbing them. Scientists have found that these are in fact the same neurons affected when your foot falls asleep, with the same tingly results. Rubbing your arm with Sichuan peppercorns — though not recommended — would have similar effect. Again, it's unclear why we like that feeling in our mouth, but scientists are studying the effects of Sichuan peppercorns to find cures for people who suffer from paresthesia, a constant tingling in their limbs.
Somewhere between hot peppers and Sichuan peppercorns is peppermint, which makes your mouth feel not hot but cold — even at room temperature — and also a little numb. This is thanks to the compound menthol, which tricks the brain into thinking a food is cool by activating a receptor protein in the cells of nerves that are able to sense cold. Even after a peppermint-laced food is consumed, menthol can often linger in the mouth and is reactivated with a sip of water, which why your mouth feels icy when you drink water after spitting out your gum.
To our brains, this is refreshing, which is why mint is in nearly every oral hygiene product — chemesthesis makes it taste clean. But menthol is also numbing: It activates opioid receptors — the same things activated by drugs like codeine and morphine — and works as an analgesic.
That's why cough drops with menthol are great for coughs and sore throats, and why mint has long been used for indigestion. It's not just refreshing; it's genuinely soothing. There are many more examples of chemethesis: the burn of raw garlic, for example, and the warmth of raw ginger, or of cinnamon. And chemethesis doesn't only occur in the mouth.
It can take place wherever there are nerve fibers that can be activated by chemical compounds. These fibers can be found in all types of skin throughout the body, and especially anywhere there is a mucus membrane: the eyes, the nose, and the throat, for example.
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