This Spicy Food Offers Healthy Heart Benefits

December 28, 2019


If you like spicy food, you’ll like this news: a recent study found that people who consume chili peppers on a regular basis have a 23% lower risk of all-cause mortality, compared to those who don’t eat them.

In the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers followed 22,811 participants for a period of eight years, on average. The researchers kept track of the participants’ health status and eating habits, and found that those who regularly consumed chili peppers (four times a week or more), the risk of dying from a heart attacked was cut by 40%.

Study author Marialaura Bonaccio explained, “An interesting fact is that protection from mortality risk was independent of the type of diet people followed. In other words, someone can follow the healthy Mediterranean diet, someone else can eat less healthily, but for all of them, chili pepper has a protective effect."

Thanks to the capsaicin in chili peppers, the health benefits are plentiful. Capsaicin offers more than just a pungent oral sensation in your mouth — experts say the endorphin rush it causes makes this chemical compound an effective remedy for pain and other medical conditions. Previous studies have shown that the capsaicin in chili peppers may help slow the progression of lung metastasis and even reduce the speed of cancer cell growth and increase the rate of death in triple negative cancer cells.

Add chili peppers to your diet and you’ll reap the benefits they have to offer while the capsaicin works to fight inflammation, boost immunity, reduce insulin levels and protect your heart. Small but mighty, chili peppers pack a punch.