A new study found that eating spicy food may reduce the risk of developing diseases such as cancer, stroke and cardiovascular diseases and ultimately, prolong life. The question now is: "Could spicy food then be the elixir of life?"
Previous studies, which involved small sample size populations, have suggested that spices that contain bioactive components, including capsaicin, may provide beneficial effects to health. However, the specific impact of eating spicy food to morbidity and mortality rates in humans has not been clearly established. With this, the researchers of this new study prospectively studied the relationship between daily diet incorporated with spicy food and the total and cause-specific deaths among Chinese adults.
The researchers made use of the data available in the China Kadoorie Biobank study, which is comprised of 512,891 individuals aged 30-79 years old from 10 geographical locations in China, enrolled between 2004 and 2008. The researchers excluded the participants who were diagnosed with cancer, heart diseases and stroke. In the end, a total of 199,293 men and 288,082 women were found eligible for the current study. The survey asked the participants about their spicy food consumption, alcohol intake, overall health status and sources of spicy food.
In the baseline survey, the participants were asked about the frequency of their spicy food intake, by choosing between the following categories: never or almost never, only occasionally, 1-2 days per week, 3-5 days per week and or 6-7 days per week. Those who chose the last three classifications were further asked about their main sources of spices, which were enumerated as "fresh chilli pepper," "dried chilli pepper," "chilli sauce," "chilli oil" and "other" or "do not know."
The researchers selected 5 percent of subjects and tested them again after 2 months and 4 months. Follow-up studies among 1,300 participants from the study group that completed the two surveys were conducted after a median of 1.4 years.
After seven years, the scientists conducted follow-up investigations. The findings of the study, published in The BMJ, show that subjects who ate spicy food 1-2 times per week have a 10 percent decreased risk of mortality compared to those who consumed them less than once per week. A 14 percent more reduced risk of death was also noted among participants who ate spicy food 3-7 times per week compared to those who never or rarely eat spices.
"We know something about the beneficial effects of spicy foods basically from animal studies and very small-sized human studies," says Lu Qi, study author and associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Preliminary investigations found that the ingredients of chili peppers may help to enhance metabolism and have favorable effects on weight and gut bacteria, he adds.
In conclusion, the researchers say that their study has shown that there is an inverse relationship between spicy food intake and total and cause-specific deaths. To make these findings applicable for more populations, prospective studies involving other groups of people are recommended.
Photo: Bart Speelman | Flickr
