SPICE UP YOUR LIFE –
June 16, 2025 – Several studies find that people who regularly eat spicy food have better overall health and fewer diseases. A diet rich in spicy peppers was associated with less obesity, heart disease, and diabetes risk. People who had lots of spicy peppers were 25% less likely to die sooner than expected, compared to those who rarely or never ate them.
The review’s senior author, cardiologist Dr. Bo Xu at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, believes these differences are due to capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers so hot. Capsaicin switches on receptors in nerve cells called TRPV1. These receptors, in turn, seem to trigger adrenaline, which burns fat and helps control blood sugar.
Some research shows that TRPV1 receptors also help control overactive immune cells to reduce inflammation, a driver of chronic illnesses such as heart disease. Medicines with capsaicin are sometimes applied to the skin for nerve pain and arthritis partly because the compound fights inflammation, and “capsaicin potentially has some of those same effects inside the body when it’s eaten,” Nguyen says. An Italian study found that people who ate chili peppers had broader heart health benefits than those who favored sweet peppers, which contain much less capsaicin.
