On 23/08/2013 11:04 PM, Warp wrote:
> However, one of life's little mysteries is that chocolate does that too.
> It stings like hell. But why? Chocolate doesn't immediately come to mind
> when I try to think of foods that would be especially irritating to a
> mouth ulcer. What is it in there that causes so much irritation? Normally
> chocolate feels so smooth and soothing, like silk. But to a mouth ulcer
> it feels like sulfuric acid.

Almost *any* substance will have the wrong osmolarity compared to body 
tissues, so almost any substance hurts when poured into an open wound. 
(About the only exception is suitably concentrated saline.)

The thing about chocolate is that it's very sticky; it coats things, and 
clings to them. So once you get it into the wound, it's quite hard to 
get out again.

(Fun fact: The bodily fluids of almost every large land animal have 
almost exactly the same salinity as sea water.)

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