Do you spicing up your daily diet with some red pepper? Well, experts say spicy food flavoured with hot chili peppers contains a natural chemical ingredient which lowers blood pressure, boosts appetite, eases sinus problems, and protects from heart disease and among and so on, reports Sade Oguntola.
Peppery hot foods have been a part of the human diet for more than 8,000 years. In fact, chillies came to be called peppers through a navigational error.
Although breaking out in a sweat, while eating a peppery meal, is seen as a good thing by its consumers, regular intake of capsaicin, the compound which gives red chilli pepper its heat, has been reported by several studies to support good health– promote healthy heart, regulate blood pressure, weight control, the common cold, muscle cramps, infections, lung congestion and ulcers.
Chillies are no substitute for the prescription medications, but they may be a nice supplement for the following health problems.
Heart disease
Researcher found that chilli compound capsaicin helps heart health by reducing the accumulation of cholesterol in the body and increasing its breakdown and excretion. It also increases blood flow in vessels, so helping to protect against heart disease.
Aside reducing total cholesterol levels in the blood, the capsaicin reduced levels of ‘bad’ LDL-cholesterol (which deposits into blood vessels), but did not affect levels ‘good’ cholesterol.
In addition, researchers found that the chilli content of pepper also increase blood flow in vessels by reduce the size of fat deposits that already have formed in blood vessels, which are known to narrow arteries in ways that can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
Weight control
Capsaicin, the main pungent compound in hot peppers and capsiates, non-pungent compounds in sweet peppers, have been shown to have ‘modest’ weight management potential.
Analysis of a number of clinical studies in the 2012 journal Chemical Senses, showed that both capsaicin and capsiates increased rate at which the body burns fat and suppress appetite, although the overall evidence showed that the effects were ‘modest’.
Basically the slimming ingredients market can be divided into five groups based on the mechanisms of action – boosting fat burning/ thermogenesis, inhibiting protein breakdown, suppressing appetite/boosting satiety (feeling of fullness), blocking fat absorption, and regulating mood (linked to food consumption).
What is more, a previous study in the 2100 journal, Nutrition & Metabolism, indicated that a daily 10 milligramme dose of purified capsinoids increased energy use by 20 per cent.
This involved 12 healthy young men with an average age of 24.3 and average Body Mass Index(BMI). The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or the purified capsinoids. The metabolic and thermogenic effects were analysed at rest and after 90 minutes of moderately intense exercise.
On a population scale, modest sustained weight loss can be predicted to generate substantial health and economic benefits by increasing disease-free years, reducing disease incidence, increasing life expectancy, and decreasing medical costs.
Boosts appetite
Peppery foods are also believed to stimulate the appetite by setting off the flow of saliva and gastric juices, a nutritionally important effect for people in tropical areas where the oppressive heat acts as an appetite suppressant. And, anecdotally at least, they act as an overall stimulant, producing a titillating, awakening effect and increasing the acuity of the senses.
Hot cayenne pepper could help burn calories and boosts appetite, particularly for people who do not regularly eat spicy food.
The study published in Physiology & Behaviour examined the effect of relatively small amounts of cayenne pepper – about half a teaspoon – in foods, and found that actually tasting the pepper may increase its efficacy for appetite increase and boosting energy expenditure.
The study examined the effect of cayenne pepper consumption on the appetite of 25 non-overweight people over a six-week period, 13 of whom liked spicy food and 12 who did not. The researchers assessed that those who did not like red pepper preferred 0.3 grams on average, compared to regular spice users who preferred 1.8 grams.
Lowers blood pressure
For those with high blood pressure, chili peppers might be just what the doctor ordered. Researchers in the 2010 edition of Cell Metabolism journal stated that while the active ingredient that gives the peppers their heat might set your mouth on fire, it also leads blood vessels to relax.
They found that long-term dietary consumption of capsaicin, one of the most abundant components in chili peppers, reduced blood pressure in genetically hypertensive rats.
Its effects were linked to an increase in production of nitric oxide, a gaseous molecule known to protect blood vessels against inflammation and dysfunction.
It isn’t yet clear just how many capsaicin-containing chili peppers a day you’d have to eat to “keep the doctor away,” although that’s a question that should now be examined in greater detail.
Eases sinus problem
Hot chili peppers are known to make people “tear up,” but also a nasal spray containing an ingredient derived from hot chili peppers (Capsicum annum) may help people “clear up” certain types of sinus inflammation.
The 2011 study, which appears in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, compares the use of the Capsicum annum nasal spray to a placebo nasal spray in 44 subjects with a significant component of nonallergic rhinitis (i.e., nasal congestion, sinus pain, sinus pressure) for a period of two weeks.
Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in several topical medications used for temporary pain relief. The spray was safe and effective on non-allergic rhinitis and the study showed that participants who used a nasal spray with Capsicum reported a faster onset of action or relief, on average within a minute of using the spray, than the control group.
Nutritionally, capsicum peppers, both sweet and hot offer large amounts of vitamin C. In fact, ounce for ounce, peppers have two and a half times more vitamin C than oranges. They are also good sources of vitamin A (which may account for the claim that they help prevent night blindness) and potassium and contain some iron and protein.
source: tribune
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