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The secret hidden in chillies which may ward off heart disease and dementia

A recent study in the British Journal of Nutrition quizzed more than 50,000 adults on how often they ate fresh chillies, chilli sauce or added dried chillies to their cooking.

Source: Cubes | 

04.12.2024, 16:26

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Some like it hot – especially when it comes to food. Surveys show one in five of us tuck into curry at least once a week, while demand in the UK for hot sauces loaded with fiery chilli flavours are on the increase, fuelled by the popularity of celebrity-backed brands, such as Tingly Ted’s, launched by music megastar Ed Sheeran.

But can spicy food fire up our health?

Compelling evidence comes from a recent study in the British Journal of Nutrition, which quizzed more than 50,000 adults on how often they ate fresh chillies, chilli sauce or added dried chillies to their cooking.

The results showed those tucking into a spicy dish just once a week reduced the risk of a life-threatening ischaemic stroke (where a clot forms in the narrow blood vessels in the skull, shutting off blood flow to the brain) by 13 per cent compared with those who rarely or never ate spicy dishes.

And those eating hot food three times a week or more were almost 20 per cent less likely to suffer a blockage, according to the study by Guangxi Medical University in China.

This effect was particularly prominent in obese people too – and obesity is a major risk factor for stroke; researchers said: ‘Obese people may benefit from a higher frequency of consuming spicy food.’

Ischaemic strokes affect more than 100,000 people a year in the UK – killing more than a third and leaving many more permanently affected by speech problems and immobility.

One theory is that the health benefits are down to the effects of capsaicin – the ingredient which gives chillies their heat. Capsaicin increases metabolism, or the rate at which the body expends energy, by about 8 per cent – and in turn this wards off obesity.

Those eating hot food three times a week or more were almost 20 per cent less likely to suffer a blockage, according to the study by Guangxi Medical University in China

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