14岁男孩挑战食用超辣玉米片后死亡，专家提醒：超辣食品或有致命风险

Teen’s death after eating a single chip highlights risks of ultra-spicy foods

近日，美国一名14岁少年在吃下超辣玉米片后不幸死亡。这再次引发了人们对追求极端辛辣食品的担忧。据报道，这名少年身体健康，但在吃下Paqui的“一片辣椒挑战”超辛辣玉米片仅几小时后就不幸离世。目前男孩死因尚未明确，薯片厂家已经下架该款产品。

极端辛辣食品可能导致动脉痉挛、血流受限等健康风险。已有个案报告超级辛辣辣椒导致脑血管痉挛和心肌梗死。专家警告超辛辣食品的蒺藜硷含量已接近胡椒喷雾的辛辣程度，摄入高剂量可能危及生命。

Harris Wolobah, a healthy 14-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, tragically died last Friday, hours after eating a single ultra-spicy tortilla chip seasoned with two of the hottest peppers in the world.

9月1日，美国马萨诸塞州伍斯特市一名14岁少年哈里斯·沃洛巴在吃下一块超辣玉米片数小时后身亡。据了解，该玉米片使用了全世界最辣的两种辣椒调味。男孩此前身体健康。

The teen's mother, Lois Wolobah, reportedly picked up her son from school that day after getting a call from the nurse that he was sick. She arrived to see him clutching his stomach and took him home. About two hours later, he lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

报道称，哈里斯的母亲罗伊斯在接到护士的电话说儿子生病后，当天从学校接回儿子。她看到哈里斯抓着肚子，就带他回家了。大约两个小时后，哈里斯失去意识，被紧急送往医院，在医院去世。

The teen had told his mother that he had eaten a Paqui chip—The 2023 Paqui One Chip Challenge chip, to be exact. Each chip is sold individually, wrapped in a foil pouch and packaged in a coffin-shaped box adorned with a skull, snakes, and a Grim Reaper. The box contains the challenge rules, which dare consumers to eat the whole chip and "wait as long as possible before drinking or eating anything"—and, of course, post reactions on social media.

哈里斯告诉母亲，他吃了一片Paqui薯片——确切地说是2023年的Paqui One Chip Challenge玉米片。每片单独销售，包装在一个装有骷髅、蛇和死神图案的棺材形状盒子中。盒子里附有挑战规则，鼓励消费者吃完整片玉米片，并“尽可能长时间不喝水或进食”，当然，还要在社交媒体上发布反应。

Lois Wolobah believes the chip played a role in the death of her son, who had no known underlying medical conditions.

罗伊斯认为，薯片导致了她儿子的死亡，哈里斯没有已知的潜在疾病。

"I just want there to be an awareness for parents to know that it’s not safe," Wolobah told The New York Times in an article that published Wednesday. "It needs to be out of the market completely."

罗伊斯6日对《纽约时报》表示：“我只是想让家长们意识到这是不安全的，需要彻底下架。”

On Thursday, the maker of the Paqui chip—Amplify Snack Brands, a subsidiary of the Hershey Company—announced that they were taking the potentially deadly chip off shelves.

7日，Paqui薯片厂家好时公司子公司Amplify Snack Brands宣布他们将下架这种可能致命的薯片。

The chip was intended only for adults and carried clear warnings, the company said in a statement. It was not intended for "children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or who has food allergies, is pregnant or has underlying health conditions.We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings," the statement went on. "As a result, while the product continues to adhere to food safety standards, out of an abundance of caution, we are actively working with our retailers to remove the product from shelves."

该公司在一份声明中表示，这款薯片只面向成年人，并附有明确的警告。它不适用于“儿童或对辣食敏感或有食物过敏、怀孕或有潜在健康问题的人。我们注意到青少年和其他人不遵守这些警告。因此，虽然该产品仍符合食品安全标准，但出于谨慎起见，我们正在积极与零售商合作将该产品从货架上撤下。”

Harris Wolobah's cause of death is not yet determined; it's not certain if the chip is to blame. An autopsy will be conducted, but the results could take up to 12 weeks, according to the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

哈里斯的死因尚未确定；目前还不能确定薯片是否是罪魁祸首。马萨诸塞州首席法医办公室表示，将进行尸检，但结果可能需要长达12周的时间。

The Paqui chip was seasoned with the Carolina Reaper pepper, the current hottest pepper in the world, and the Naga Viper pepper, which was the reigning hottest pepper in 2011 but is now merely among the top 10.

Paqui薯片是用目前世界上最辣的辣椒Carolina Reaper辣椒和Naga Viper辣椒调味的，后者在2011年当选全球最辣辣椒，如今排名前十。

追求辣度的辣椒种植者一直在培育越来越辣的杂交品种。但一些研究表明，追求越来越辣的辣椒变得更加危险，可能存在致命风险。

These extreme peppers are linked with serious health concerns. In the 2020 case study, the Mississippi doctors reported that a healthy 15-year-old developed severe headaches for days after eating a Carolina Reaper pepper on a dare. Six days later, when he showed up at an emergency department with worsening headache, nausea, and vomiting, doctors found that his blood pressure was spiking and arteries in his brain had spasmed, limiting blood flow and leading to swelling and an infarct (tissue death due to inadequate blood supply). They diagnosed him with reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) secondary to pepper ingestion. After treatment, he made a full recovery.

这些超辣辣椒与严重的健康问题有关。在2020年的病例研究中，美国密西西比州的医生报告，一名健康的15岁少年在食用Carolina Reaper辣椒后，连续几天出现严重头痛。六天后少年被送进急诊室，头痛、恶心和呕吐加剧，医生发现他的血压飙升，脑动脉痉挛，血液流动受限，导致肿胀和梗死（由于血液供应不足导致组织死亡）。他们诊断他患有继发于胡椒摄入的可逆性脑血管收缩综合征（RCVS）。经过治疗，这名少年康复了。

"These ultraspicy peppers may either contain a unique vasoactive substance, or there is a dose-related effect of capsaicin concentration that can trigger RCVS," the doctors concluded. "Further research in this area is needed to determine the exact pathophysiology of this phenomenon. This case provides further evidence that ingestion of hot peppers may lead to serious consequences and that further research is needed to assess their safety."

医生们总结道：“这些超辣辣椒可能含有一种独特的血管活性物质，或者辣椒素浓度的剂量相关效应可能会触发RCVS。需要进一步研究这一领域，以确定这种现象的确切病理生理学。这个案例进一步证明了食用辣椒可能导致严重后果，并且需要进一步研究其安全性。”

It's not the first time RCVS was linked to the Carolina Reaper. In 2018, doctors in New York reported a case of a 34-year-old man who ate the pepper during a pepper-eating contest. In the days following, he developed severe neck and head pain, and intensely painful thunderclap headaches. Scans showed unexpected narrowing of arteries in his brain. He, too, recovered after treatment.

这不是RCVS第一次与Carolina Reaper辣椒联系在一起。2018年，纽约医生报告了一例34岁男子在吃辣椒比赛中吃了这种辣椒后发病的情况。在接下来的几天里，他出现了严重的颈部和头部疼痛，以及剧烈的雷击样头痛。扫描显示他脑部动脉意外变窄。经过治疗，他也康复了。

"RCVS should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients who present with thunderclap headache after ingestion of cayenne [capsaicin-containing] pepper, which is a vasoactive substance," they concluded.

医生总结道：“在食用了辣椒素含量较高的辣椒后出现雷击样头痛的患者，应该考虑到RCVS的可能性。”

But the brain's vasculature may not be the only big concern from extreme capsaicin doses. A 2012 case study from Turkey reported that a healthy 25-year-old man suffered a heart attack after taking cayenne pepper pills marketed for weight loss. Tests indicated that the cause of the heart attack was spasms of the coronary arteries. The researchers noted similar effects had been seen in rat hearts.

但是，大脑的血管系统可能并不是辣椒素过量引起的唯一健康问题。2012年土耳其的一项案例研究报告称，一名健康的25岁男子在服用了减肥辣椒丸后心脏病发作。测试表明，心脏病发作的原因是冠状动脉痉挛。研究人员注意到，在大鼠心脏中也观察到了类似的效果。

"We suggest that this product, which may increase the risk of life-threatening cardiovascular events, be closely supervised and controlled by relevant institutions worldwide," the authors wrote of the cayenne pepper pills.

研究人员针对辣椒丸写道：“我们建议全球相关机构密切监督和控制这种可能增加危及生命的心血管事件风险的产品。”

It's unclear how the Paqui chip's capsaicin levels compared to those in the weight-loss pills—and if the levels are even standardized in each of the individual chips. Or, as the Mississippi doctors speculated, if the Carolina Reaper contains "a unique vasoactive substance" beyond capsaicin. But, for now, it's not out of the question that capsaicin alone could have led to death.

目前尚不清楚Paqui玉米片的辣椒素水平与减肥辣椒丸中的水平相比如何，也不清楚每片玉米片中的辣椒素含量是否标准化。或者，正如密西西比州的医生推测的那样，Carolina Reaper含有辣椒素之外的“一种独特的血管活性物质”。但就目前而言，辣椒素存在致死可能性。

Dr. Peter Chai, an associate professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told the Associated Press that the capsaicin could be deadly on its own.

波士顿布莱根妇女医院急诊医学和医学毒理学副教授皮特·柴博士告诉美联社，辣椒素本身可能致命。

"It’s possible eating these chips with high concentration of capsaicin could cause death," Chai said. "It would really depend on the amount of capsaicin that an individual was exposed to. At high doses, it can lead to fatal dysrhythmia or irreversible injury to the heart."

他表示：“吃食用含有高浓度辣椒素的薯片可能会导致死亡。这取决于一个人摄入的辣椒素剂量。在高剂量下，辣椒素可能导致致命的心律失常或对心脏的不可逆损伤。”

来源：Ars Technica