Hot peppers: Nature’s key to a longer life. That’s what a new study from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont found.
Chili peppers are well known for their anti-inflammatory properties that are responsible for many health benefits. We have reported on many of these benefits, including reduced risk of obesity, inhibition of gut tumors, reduced risk of breast cancer, and so much more.
Hot peppers have a common ingredient called capsaicin. This ingredient is what gives peppers their powerful anti-inflammatory properties.
The new University of Vermont study showed that consumption of hot peppers is associated with 13 percent lower risk of mortality, mainly in deaths from heart disease and stroke.
This is not the first large-scale study to associate hot peppers with a reduced risk of mortality. A Chinese study of almost 500,000 participants found that those who ate chili peppers had a 14 percent lower risk of death.
Using National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) III data collected from over 16,000 Americans, the researchers examined the benefits of chili pepper consumption.
“Although the mechanism by which peppers could delay mortality is far from certain, Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels, which are primary receptors for pungent agents such as capsaicin (the principal component in chili peppers), may in part be responsible for the observed relationship,” say the study authors.
There are many possible explanations for why chili peppers decrease mortality risk. Capsaicin is believed to play a role in cellular and molecular mechanisms that prevent obesity, regulate coronary blood flow, and has potent antibacterial properties that “may indirectly affect the host by altering the gut microbiota.”
“Because our study adds to the generalizability of previous findings, chili pepper — or even spicy food — consumption may become a dietary recommendation and/or fuel further research in the form of clinical trials,” the authors note.
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