Hot Stuff for Health

Capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers, is so hot that it can make your mouth feel like it's on fire. This phytochemical most likely exists in peppers to deter animals from eating them. Yet for humans, when capsaicin is consumed in a somewhat diluted form, such as in hot sauce, chili peppers, or cayenne peppers, it offers a myriad of health benefits.

How Hot is Your Pepper?

Chili peppers come in hundreds of different varieties, each with a unique flavour, coluor, shape, and heat factor. Generally speaking, the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it contains.

About 80 percent of the capsaicin in a chili pepper is in its ribs and seeds, which is why much of the heat is removed when these items are taken out.

Hot peppers' heat is measured using the Scoville Heat Scale. While pure capsaicin measures in at over 16 million Scoville Units, most popular varieties rank around 30,000.

Bell peppers make up the baseline, at zero Scoville Units. While the habañero pepper was once thought to be the hottest pepper, measuring in at 300,000 units, an Indian chili pepper called Naga Jolokia was tested in 2000 and received a searing score of 855,000 units!

Fight Cancer

A study published in Cancer Research found that capsaicin caused cancer cells to commit suicide. The substance caused almost 80 percent of prostate cancer cells to die in mice, and prostate tumors treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of those in untreated mice.

"Capsaicin inhibits the growth of human prostate cancer cells in petri dishes and mice," says lead researcher Dr. H. Phillip Koeffler, director of hematology and oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Provide Pain Relief and Inflammation

Capsaicin is also known to inhibit Substance P, a neuropeptide that is the key transmitter of pain to the brain and is associated with inflammatory processes. Substance P can cause swelling of nerve fibers, which may result in headaches and sinus symptoms. Studies have found that capsaicin both relieves and prevents cluster headaches, migraine headaches, and sinus headaches, and it is being looked at as a potential treatment for arthritis, psoriasis, and diabetic neuropathy.

Prevent Sinusitis and Relieve Congestion

We know hot peppers can make your nose run, relieving congestion, but capsaicin also has potent antibacterial properties that fight and prevent chronic sinus infections, or sinusitis.

Burn Fat and Lose Weight

Capsaicin is a thermogenic agent, which means it increases metabolic activity. This, in turn, helps to burn calories and fat. The substance may significantly increase metabolic activity for over 20 minutes after it's eaten.

Protect Your Heart

Capsaicin may help to protect the heart by reducing cholesterol, triglycerides and platelet aggregation. It may also help the body dissolve fibrin, which is necessary for blood clots to form. Further, cultures around the world that use hot peppers liberally in their meals have significantly lower rates of heart attack and stroke than cultures that do not.