JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Eating chilies can reduce the risk of dying from heart diseases or strokes reveals new study
While chili is said to have had therapeutic properties since forever, a new study has now proven that regular consumption of chili peppers cuts the risk of death from heart diseases and strokes.
It is rather interesting to learn how the benefits of so many food items are barely known and discovering more only makes it further interesting. While chili is said to have had therapeutic properties since forever, a new study has now proven that regular consumption of chili peppers cuts the risk of death from heart diseases and strokes. The said research was carried out in Italy, a commonplace for chili as their common ingredient and compared the risk of death among 23,000 people, which was a mix of chili eating and non-chili eating people.
After monitoring the health status and eating habits for over eight years, the research proved that the risk of dying from a heart attack was 40% lower among people who ate chili peppers for at least four times a week. Meanwhile, the death from stroke was more than halved, as per results published in a journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology. An epidemiologist by profession and the study's lead author, Marialaura Bonaccio (Mediterranean Neurological Institute (Neuromed)) went on to reveal and interesting fact stating that the protection from mortality risk was independent of the diet followed by people.
"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," she said. The research made use of data in the Moli-Sani study, with over 25,000 participants. The director of the department of epidemiology and prevention at Neuromed and a profession at the University of Insurbia, Licia Iacoviello, also explained how it is through the Italian food culture that the beneficial properties of chili come from.
"And now, as already observed in China and in the United States, we know that the various plants of the capsicum species, although consumed in different ways throughout the world, can exert a protective action towards our health," said Iacoviello. Next up, the team has plans to understand the biochemical mechanisms that contribute to make chili a beneficial ingredient for our health. However, external experts do have some limitations to point out.
Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in the UK went on to say how the paper, though interesting, does not show a causal link between health benefits and chili consumption. Mellor added, "It is plausible people who use chilies, as the data suggests also used more herbs and spices, and as such likely to be eating more fresh foods including vegetables," he said.
A nutrition researcher at Quadram Institute Bioscience in Norwich said, "So, although chilies can be a tasty addition to our recipes and meals, any direct effect is likely to be small and it is more likely that it makes eating other healthy foods more pleasurable."However, he also pointed out that no mechanism for the protective effect was identified, nor did scientists find that eating more chili provided additional health benefits. He added, "This type of relationship suggests that chilies may be just a marker for some other dietary or lifestyle factor that hasn't been accounted for but, to be fair, this kind of uncertainty is usually present in epidemiological studies, and the authors do acknowledge this."
