There are many ingredients out there that can up the level of heat in your dish, but
the easiest is a good shake of hot sauce.
It doesn't just amp up your favorite foods: Hot sauce can also have a big impact on your
body and your health, both immediately and in the long-run.
Between digestive effects, energy boosts, and increased longevity, there are a whole
lot of things that can happen to your body when you eat hot sauce.
For example ...
No pain, no gain
That characteristic hot sauce burn comes from capsaicin, which is that spice-inducing molecule
naturally found in chili peppers and the like.
Capsaicin binds to the receptors on your tongue that detect temperature and indicate pain.
That's why your mouth gets hot and feels like you're in some big-time pain whenever you
take a bite too inundated with hot sauce — even though you're really just fine.
"mmmm"
The heat is on
Whenever you take a bite of something drenched in hot sauce, your body undergoes thermogenesis,
which is the process by which your internal core temperature rises.
It makes you sweat, your nose gets runny, and your face gets red because the tiniest
blood vessels in your body — called capillaries — dilate as blood rushes around.
Feeling fine
Soon after your tongue starts to feel the burn, your nervous system, responding to the
cry for help it's getting from the rest of your body, releases endorphins, which, as
every Legally Blonde fans knows, makes you happy.
"Larry, I'm quitting the company and starting my own and by the way I feel great!
Stan you're a great guy with great skills and you're gonna do great!"
According to NPR's The Salt, these endorphins, released to help you cope with the pain, do
just that by making the nerves on your tongue more tolerant of the pain.
"AHHH!"
"More please!"
Straight to the heart
If you've ever eaten a bite of hot sauce and felt like your heart was pounding a little
faster than it had been before, you weren't just imagining it.
That's because hot sauce increases the amount of blood flowing towards the stomach after
you eat it.
It also causes your heart rate to increase as well, which revs up the circulation of
blood all throughout your body.
Spit take
While you've likely battled a runny nose during or immediately after eating hot sauce, you
might not be quite as familiar with the watery mouth that can accompany it.
Your salivary glands kick into overdrive in an effort to produce enough saliva to clear
out any capsaicin still present in your mouth.
Make sure to keep a napkin at the ready.
Burning up
According to Everyday Health, if you're prone to heartburn, you should avoid eating is spicy
foods like hot sauce because they can encourage heartburn.
"DUH"
Slate noted that the initial sensation is not actually heartburn, but rather the capsaicin
binding to receptors in your esophagus, which causes the burning that feels like heartburn.
Occasionally you can get actual heartburn after eating spicy foods when the capsaicin
again causes the muscular valve at the top of the stomach to stay open for too long,
letting acid move back up into the esophagus.
"MMM!
Fire!"
Allergies be gone
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Dr. Clifford W. Bassett, the medical director
of Allergy and Asthma Care of New York, said that the capsaicin in cayenne and chili pepper
can help clear up congestion.
Try adding some hot sauce to your breakfast the next time your seasonal allergies start
to flare up — it might just help you nip them in the bud.
Hot sauce for fitness
If you're trying to burn off a few pounds, you might want to up your hot sauce intake.
According to Science Daily, because capsaicin raises your body temperature, it could help
rev up your metabolism and help you burn more fat, making your weight loss efforts more
successful than if you didn't incorporate capsaicin-containing foods into your diet.
It's easy to incorporate hot sauce into a variety of dishes, so you might as well give
it a shot.
So…
"..make sure to try Tabasco on your pizza real soon."
Long-term benefits
If you consistently eat hot sauce over the years, it could help you lower your blood
pressure, according to Science Daily.
If you eat capsaicin-containing foods regularly, over time, the molecule will help the blood
vessels in your body to relax, lowering your overall blood pressure.
According to 2010 research published in the journal Future Oncology, capsaicin may also
work well at suppressing the growth of prostate cancer tumors.
Which means less of this.
"Deep breaths.
Okay.
He's in!"
"He's in!"
That's not all: eating more hot sauce could also help you live longer.
According to research published by The BMJ in 2015, when adjusted for other known risk
factors, eating a lot of spicy foods correlated with greater longevity for both men and women.
Eating spicy foods most days each week led to a 14 percent relative risk reduction for
the people in the study.
Sounds like a taste worth acquiring!
"It's not so bad."
"It's more tingly than hot."
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