Bon Appetit article re: Pepper Eating Contest

Matt Gross wrote this article about his experience in the NYC Hot Sauce Expo pepper eating contest. 
 
His story is well written and an interesting take on the superhot train ride.   He offers a tidbit on heartburn relief we all might use someday.
 
 

What's It Like to Eat the World's Hottest Chili Pepper?
 
 
Linked via Huffington Post.
 
 
 

I`ve suffered from heartburn since I was 14-15. I`ve been tested - my stomach produces around 10 times more acid than is normal and it is genetic, i.e. it runs in my family. Sometimes, just drinking a glass of water gives me heartburn. I`ve never had heartburn from eating chillis. Not once.
 
In fact, eating superhot peppers actually cures my heartburn. The hotter they are, the more relief I get and the longer lasting the effect is. The effect is highly reproducible, too. It only happens 100% of the time I eat anything as hot or hotter than a roughly 500-700k SHU rated pepper.
 
It`s likely that the huge number of extra proteins that import acid into my stomach makes me more susceptible to drugs like Prilosec. It is probably also the case with capsaicin, which binds to this type of protein anyway (ion channels). 

We have observed that your eating habits aren't normal, Nigel.  
 
 
It's amazing how different foods affect people.