IANS

TITABOR (Assam), Aug 5: A demure 25-year-old mother of one in India's Assam state is all set to stake claim as the world's 'hottest' woman - she loves eating the spiciest of red chillies.

Anandita Dutta Tamuly from Titabor village, 325 km east of Guwahati, has a singular fiery habit - gobbling red-hot chillies without batting an eyelid or shedding a tear.

She is like any other woman of her age - except for her preference for the local chilli variety called the Naga Jolokia (capsicum frutescens).

Scientists claim the Naga Jolokia is the world's fieriest.

The variety surpassed the pungency level of Red Savina Habanero, a species found in Mexico and popularly known as the "Mexican chilli", experts at the Defence Research Laboratory at Tezpur in Assam said.

The hotness of the Naga Jolokia chilli, measured in Scoville units, was 855 units compared to the Mexican chilli's 577 units, they said.

Tamuly's bizarre eating habit could earn her a place in the Guinness Book of Records as she prepares to leave for London to exhibit her power.

"The Guinness wrote to me that no one has tried creating a record in the chilli eating category. I am thrilled to be on my way to creating history," Tamuly said. The Assam government has announced financial support for Tamuly's trip.

The other day she munched 60 such hot chillies in a minute on a reality TV show, besides rubbing a dozen Naga Jolokias in her eyes - all with a broad grin on her face.

The show will be on air Aug 29 at 10.30 p.m. on ZEE TV in a programme called "Shabash India".

"I have been eating Naga Jolokia since my childhood and never realised the hotness in my mouth," she said.

She became hooked on to chillies when she was just five years old. "I had a sore tongue and my mother applied chilli paste to cure the infection when I was five years old. Since then I developed a penchant for chillies," Tamuly said.

"I don't feel any difference. I don't know why," she said.

Tamuly claims her chilli eating habit has had no affect on her health.

"I have no doubts that my wife is the hottest woman in the world," her husband said. But he did not want to be quoted by name.