Spicy food, it seems, is helpful in prolonging lives, a Chinese study can reveal. However, the result of the study is not enough to merit a strong conclusion with regards to the benefits of this sizzling gastronome.
"We know something about the beneficial effects of spicy foods basically from animal studies and very small-sized human studies," author Lu Qi, a faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the study's author, noted. Earlier studies have already been conducted concluding that the components of the spicy food, such as capsaicin, which is present in chili peppers, are potent in fighting against inflammation and in boosting metabolic rate, affecting positively on gut bacteria and even weight.
The study, published in The BMJ, collected the dietary data from around 490,000 people living in China, ages 30 to 79.
The results seemed promising as those who ate spicy foods once or twice a week showed 10 percent reduced risks of death compared to those who ate spicy foods less than once a week. What is more interesting is that those who ate once a day "had a relative 14 percent lower risk of death compared to those who consumed spicy foods less than once a week," the research shows.
The most popular spices used are fresh and dried chilli peppers, but only fresh chillis could yield the best health benefits.
But what is really with spices that make them potent? It's in the ingredient! According to Web MD, Spices are rich in capsaicin, an ingredient famous for its anti-obesity, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation and anti-cancer properties.
The researchers, however, believed that further studies are needed to concretely conclude on the link of spicy foods to longer life. Although almost half a million volunteers joined the study which tracked a cumulative 3.5 million person-years, the researchers still could not point out the exact relationship between eating spicy foods and living longer.
