Holistic Health
Could chili be part of a healthy diet?
Though some research is promising, there are still uncertainties around the popular spice
There’ s little doubt chili peppers can make your taste buds rejoice or recoil, depending on how your food preferences swing. But what are their effects on health?
Like most vegetables, chilies are believed to offer a wide range of health benefits, but they may also lead to some risks.
For starters, chili peppers are a good source of vitamins A and C that are well known for boosting the immune system.
The component in chili responsible for the burning feeling, capsaicin, can also reduce pain, enhance fullness, thus potentially contributing to obesity prevention, and has been found to protect against several conditions, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to a 2016 review published in Molecules.
An analysis of 4,729 studies presented at the American Heart Association’ s Scientific Sessions 2020 showed that people who regularly ate chili peppers lived longer than those who rarely or never consumed them. In particular, researchers observed a 26 percent reduction in cardiovascular mortality, a 23 percent decrease in cancer death, and a 25 percent drop in allcause mortality.
This seems like fantastic news for spicy food enthusiasts, but there are some caveats to consider before you start gorging on chili to boost your health.
Though the 2020 review points to significant health benefits in chili, it’ s based on associations that don’ t prove the observed beneficial effects are caused by chili. In fact, study participants who saw mortality reduction might just have also consumed different types of other healthy food like vegetables, mushrooms, or whole grains peppered with chili. In that case, they might have lived longer thanks to their healthy diets, regardless of their chili intake. This uncertainty is reflected in the words of the senior author of the 2020 review.
“ We were surprised to find that in these previously published studies, regular consumption of chili pepper was associated with an overall riskreduction of all cause, CVD [ cardiovascular disease ] and cancer mortality. It highlights that dietary factors may play an important role in overall health,” Dr Bo Xu, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic in the US, said at the presentation of the study, according to the American Heart Association.
“ The exact reasons and mechanisms that might explain our findings, though, are currently unknown. Therefore, it is impossible to conclusively say that eating more chili pepper can prolong life and reduce deaths, especially from cardiovascular factors or cancer. More research, especially evidence from randomized controlled studies, is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.”
And beyond the uncertainty around chili’ s health benefits, other evidence has also suggested that eating the spice was associated with gallbladder cancer, though this link doesn’ t prove causation either and might also be due to other factors unrelated to chili consumption.
In fact, there’ s more data that seems to back up the idea that excessive amounts of chili peppers may cause unpleasant symptoms, as many have probably experienced first-hand after indulging in spicy food. Some studies have confirmed that high quantities of capsaicin could lead to heartburn, nausea, stomach pain, and diarrhoea, so much so that in the past the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Germany warned against excessive capsaicin intake.
The bottom line is, if you fancy chili peppers, you can probably enjoy them in moderate quantities. But if you aren’ t a fan, there’ s no reason to despair as plenty of other foods with stronger health credentials can make up a clean diet.
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