Debate into health benefits of spicy food is hotting up

LONDON: Adding a touch of spice to a meal can improve the taste. But could it be that those who like it hot are also improving their health?

Today, researchers from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences report findings from an extensive study which found that those who regularly consumed spicy food had a slightly lower mortality risk than those who ate it less than once a week.

Out of 487 375 participants, 20 224 died during the average seven-year study period. When the results were adjusted for age and other factors, those who had spicy food – usually chilli peppers, chilli sauce or chilli oil – six or seven times a week were found to have a 14 percent lower mortality risk than those who rarely ate such food.

A similar pattern was seen in mortality risk for certain conditions, including cancer and heart conditions, according to the research, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The researchers couldn’t prove it was spicy food that was making the difference to people’s health, leading some to question whether it might be the foods consumed with the chilli, or lifestyle factors. Nevertheless, the research has prompted calls for further investigation.

Nita Forouhi, from the Medical Research Council’s epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge, said that while the findings were only “hypothesis generating”, debate and research into spicy food was “hotting up”.

“Many potential benefits have been suggested for chilli or its bioactive compound capsaicin,” she said in the BMJ, among them anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

Capsaicin has also been linked to anti-obesity effects.

But Catherine Collins, principal dietician at St George’s Hospital in London, said the study was not “sufficiently persuasive” to recommend chillis as part of a daily diet. “It’s impossible to determine whether chilli peppers have some magical effect.” – The Independent