Will eating more chilis help you live longer? – . Health Blog

I have to admit, it can be difficult to take the latest healthy eating news too seriously. There seems to be an endless list of food choices, but little consensus. It's enough to confuse even the most cautious health news reader.

For a long time, low-fat diets prevailed. But then came the Paleo Diet, the Keto Diet, the LA Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, and many others – including corporate-based diets (like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and NutriSystem). Eggs were awful; Now they're fine (in moderation, of course). There are detergents, detox and anti-inflammatory foods.

Still, one of the newer entries into the barrage of nutrition news seems like one of the most unlikely: chili pepper.

Time to spice up your diet?

Chili pepper in your diet could lower your risk of dying from cancer or cardiovascular disease, and also promote longevity, according to a new report.

The analysis included data from more than half a million people in several countries. Compared to people who never or rarely ate chili pepper, those who ate it regularly had lower death rates from cardiovascular disease (by 26%), cancer (by 23%), or some other cause (by 25%) %).

While the results of this report seem too good to be true, it builds on the publication of several other studies linking the health benefits of chili pepper consumption. For example, this study found that people who consumed chilli pepper four or more times a week for eight years had significantly lower death rates, including from cardiovascular disease, than people who rarely or never did so.

The reason chili pepper could be a boon to health is not clear. One theory attributes it to capsaicin. This is the ingredient in chili pepper that gives it warmth. Capsaicin is a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties.

Before you revise your shopping list …

These results are fascinating but not definitive. The report is an analysis of four large observational studies. While it describes a link between chilli pepper consumption and health benefits, it cannot prove that eating chillies caused it. In fact, chilli pepper may have little to do with the results: maybe people who eat chilli peppers are using it to spice up an already healthy diet, and that diet could be responsible for the health benefits.

The various studies included in this new report used different types and amounts of chili pepper. And these results have not yet been published in any peer-reviewed medical journal. So far, they have only been featured at the 2020 American Heart Association meeting. That is, the results should be considered preliminary.

In addition, there can be drawbacks to eating chili pepper. For one thing, some people don't like spicy foods. And some previous studies have linked chili pepper consumption to gallbladder cancer. This finding is also not final, as it also comes from observational studies.

The final result

If you enjoy adding chilli pepper to your food, this latest review is a reason to move on. However, it is too early to say that everyone should start doing this regularly to improve their health. Additional research is needed to confirm that the overall health effects are positive. And if so, we need to find out how much chili is best. And does the type of chili pepper play a role? How long does it take for a benefit to become apparent?

For people like me who love spicy foods, this chilli pepper news is welcome. It's important to keep these results in mind, however: a single spice is unlikely to have any greater impact when compared to other parts of a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced, heart-healthy diet, regular exercise, and avoidance of obesity.

Even if chili peppers have been shown to have health benefits, one spice can only do this much: Eating fast-food pizza several times a week won't make a healthy diet if just adding extra chili flakes.

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