Why does pepper make you sneeze? Because the chemical piperine, an irritant, gets into the nose. A sneeze is a reflex that is triggered when nerve endings inside the mucous membrane of the nose are stimulated. Pepper, be it white, black, or green, contains an alkaloid of pyridine called piperine. Piperine acts as an irritant if it gets into the nose. It stimulates (or irritates) the nerve endings inside the mucous membrane. This stimulation will cause you to sneeze. Actually, the nose wants to kick out this irritant and the only way it knows how to do this is by sneezing." Did you know ... Sneezing is called sternutation. When you sneeze air rushes out your nose at a rate of 100 miles per hour! There are an estimated 5 million scent receptors in the human nose. Our noses produce an estimated one to two pints of mucus a day.
