"W. Watson" wondered:

I've been reading the book Wildlife Wars by Terry Grosz. In one story, he mentions
that he easily becomes seasick, and someone recommended eating a strong dose of 'hot'
chilli before going on the water. It actually worked up to a point. It did a very
good job of preventing seasickness, but, unfortunately, the chilli was contanimated
with salmonella and he paid the price with a bad case of diaherra later. The cook and
restaurant also paid a price later when he returned. Anyway, he never revealed if he
tried again and if it was truly successful. Anyone know?


Several replies have adduced the gastrointestinal medicinal effects of
capsaicin, and thus judged that there is probably something to be said
for the ingestion of chili as a seasickness preventive.

I imagine it is hogwash. Seasickness is a system malfunction that
results from internal sensory conflict; yer eyes telling you one thing
while yer inner-ear balance center is telling you something else. Why
it manifests as sweating and nausea I don't know, but the symptoms are
generated by such a completely different mechanism than that of other
forms of gastro distress that I'd have a hard time believing that they
could be cured by putting something in yer stomach.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
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Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
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