The Secret of Mint: Why does it felt cold?

Have you ever wondered why the chewing gum or any other peppermint products felt cold inside our mouth when we drink water, when in reality, it should be burning hot? This are sensations with same underlying biochemical causes.

Different pieces of stimulus from the environment produce diverse electrical patterns inside the brain. Example, heat causes the same electrical pattern in our brains each time, which activates our body that we need to move away from the hot surface. Cool temperatures generate a different pattern. If a person takes in gum confusion was created inside the brain that this piece of gum with peppermint on it is “cold.”

To produce electrical impulses our body allows the electrically charged atoms to enter a cell by opening a channel in the cell membrane, changing the electrical charge within the cell with all sorts of interesting and complicated consequences. Capsaicin, the hot molecule, in chili peppers modify an 'ion channel' on TRP-V1 that is activated by high temperatures, causing an electrical change within the cells. Menthol in mints interacts with the same molecule (the TRP-M8 ion channel) on nerve cells that signals cool temperatures. The same pattern will be formed when the channels are opened, regardless of whether temperature change or taste causes it to open, and thus our brains are tricked into perceiving the inappropriate sensation.

Our human body have different marvels indeed! Several glitches also happens within which is really cool to know!

Reference:

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/dalyacolumn5.htm/