"Is Spicy Food Good for You?"
Most people could name four of the basic tastes:
sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
The rare foodie may be able to nail umami,
but what about “the forgotten ﬂavour sense,” spicy?
This seeming neglect is somewhat surprising given that hot peppers
are one of the world's most widely-used spices.
In fact, as many as one in four people on the planet
currently eat chilies on a daily basis, raising the question,
“Why is spicy food so popular?”
Why do some like it hot, enjoying what is, at ﬁrst glance,
an irritating, and potentially painful mouth sensation?
According to one popular suggestion,
it is the endorphin hit,
the release of your natural morphine-like
painkiller chemicals from your brain.
You hear this a lot in the popular press, but we still don’t have
any convincing evidence to support it.
Another suggestion is that we learned to use it
for its antimicrobial properties before the age of refrigeration,
given that spicy food tends to be preferred by cultures
living in warmer climates, and for that matter,
maybe it makes us sweat and thereby ultimately helps cool us down.
Then again, maybe it’s just because people just like the taste.
Preference for spicy foods does seem to run in families.
Based on twin studies comparing the preferences of identical
to fraternal twins, genetic factors may account
for up to half of the variation, similar to the heritability
of sweet and sour preferences.
It may also be hormonal. Researchers in France noted
that particularly males liked spicy food
and wondered if it was a testosterone thing.
So, they took a group of more than 100 men
and gave them a plate of mashed potatoes
and asked them to Tabasco the potatoes to taste,
after taking saliva samples to measure their testosterone levels.
And what do you know, men who had higher testosterone
added more hot sauce.
That may help explain this study that found
a correlation between hot chili pepper consumption
and muscle strength in adult males.
As an aside, when I was looking at the testosterone literature,
I ran across this study that showed young men experience
an acute decrease in blood testosterone levels
after chugging sugar water or whey protein powder:
12- to 18-year-olds were randomized to a few scoops of protein power
or about two cans of soda worth of sugar, and within 20 minutes
saw a significant drop in testosterone levels
compared to a sugar-free, protein-free control.
This is consistent with lower testosterone levels
found in people on high protein, low carb diets.
Anyway, what does the consumption
of hot spicy foods do to our lifespan?
Well, a massive study of a half million men and women in China
found that those regularly eating spicy foods
had an associated 14 percent reduction in total mortality,
meaning the risk of premature death.
That could translate into about an extra year onto your lifespan,
if it is cause and effect.
Those of you who follow my work know
there are two main potential issues with observational studies:
reverse causality and confounding factors.
In other words, instead of spicy foods
leading to less disease, maybe disease is leading
to less spicy food, with sick people eating blander diets.
However, the apparent benefit remained
even after excluding sick folks,
or those who were just about to croak.
And so, reverse causality doesn’t seem to explain it,
though hey, people who eat spicy food probably drink more,
and what do they drink in China?
Green tea; so, maybe that’s what going on?
It would be nice to replicate this
in a non-green tea drinking country or even a country
that drinks terrible stuff, like the United States.
And yet same thing, a 13 percent risk reduction in premature death.
And the protective association remained
even after controlling for Mexican-American ethnicity.
As I detailed before, they have a longevity advantage,
presumably because they eat so many beans.
Same thing was found in Italy, this time
a 23 percent lower all-cause mortality.
That’d be like two extra years of life.
The authors conclude that minor dietary changes,
such as just adding chilies to one’s usual diet,
could be a valuable measure for improving health.
There have been four studies done overall,
including this one in Iran, that all found the same thing:
significantly lower risk of premature death.
In fact, black or chili pepper consumption was associated
with about the same lifespan extension as turmeric,
even at just like a pinch a day.
And, those that did both seemed to do even better,
which is consistent with the ability of a black pepper compound
to boost the bioavailability of the turmeric compound curcumin.
I’ve got about 50 videos on why turmeric is so good for you,
but why might chili peppers extend your life?
We’ll find out, next.