The incredible benefits of spicy food: living longer and losing weight

The incredible benefits of spicy food: living longer and losing weight

Did you know that spicy food helps you live longer by reducing mortality and is it useful to lose weight and lose fat? But they are not your only benefits.

If you regularly consume spicy food it is quite likely that, at some other time, you have asked yourself if it is really a type of adequate food, especially for the health of our digestive system.

In fact, some time ago we asked ourselves the following question: are spicy foods bad for the stomach? Thanks to this we discovered that this type of food is not suitable for people with digestive problems or stomach ulcers, since capsaicin (the component that causes that “itch” when we consume them), tends to irritate the lining of the stomach.

For this reason, many physicians discourage the consumption of spicy foods in patients with digestive problems, stomach ulcers or gastroesophageal reflux. Although its consumption is allowed for those who do not suffer from this type of problem …

Moreover, recent scientific studies have found many of the benefits offered by spicy food: it helps us to live longer, is useful to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and also helps us lose weight.

What benefits does spicy food offer us?
We must bear in mind that most of the benefits offered by spicy food are due to capsaicin, the active and main ingredient “guilty” that this type of food generates heat or burning and the symptoms that it generates when we eat it

It is a substance with irritating qualities that plants of the Capsicum variety produce in order to defend themselves. And it is the one that in turn offers us all the qualities that the chile or chili and the hot pepper offer us. And what are those benefits? Take note:

It helps reduce the risk of cancer: An experiment carried out with mice proved that capsaicin was capable of inhibiting the growth of prostate cancer tumors, specifically by 80%. On the other hand, another investigation carried out in India found that capsaicin is capable of attacking the membranes of cancer cells.
Promotes the loss of fat: It has been shown that spicy food, and in particular capsaicin, is capable of promoting fat loss, thanks to the fact that it acts through a thermogenic effect, increasing the calories consumed by our body at the time of digesting the fat. food.
It helps us live longer: a population study carried out by Harvard University, in which half a million people were analyzed, found that spicy food was able to reduce mortality by 14%, including common causes such as cancer, respiratory pathologies, and coronary or cardiovascular diseases.

Recommendations to keep in mind when eating spicy
But far from what can be thought, in reality this does not mean that spicy food damages the stomach, but on coming into contact with the stomach tissue releases substance P, a chemical capable of “tricking” the nervous system and making us believe that there is a digestive damage, when in reality it is not like that.

However, substance P may become depleted when there is repeated exposure to capsaicin, hence those who consume spicy food usually tend not to develop the typical discomfort or symptoms that anyone can develop when they consume it in a timely manner or for the first time, by becoming more tolerable to these signs.

However, despite its qualities, it is advisable not to abuse spicy food, and avoid it especially when we suffer from gastroesophageal reflux or digestive ulcers since these are the main contraindications when consuming this type of food.