A recent study suggests that frequent consumption of chilli peppers may provide hitherto unidentified health benefits that increase longevity.
People who consume chillies may have a “significantly reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer,” according to preliminary study that will be presented this week at the Scientific Sessions 2020 of the American Heart Association.
The study is the first large-scale attempt to compare reported consumption of chillies with disease mortality, even though prior research has found that eating chillies has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and blood-glucose regulating effects due to capsaicin, which gives chillies their distinctive hot taste.
To ascertain the effect of chili pepper on longevity, researchers looked at 4,729 papers from five of the most prominent international health databases: Ovid, Cochrane, Medline, Embase, and Scopus.
These included data on the use of chili peppers and four large studies that concentrated on participant health outcomes.
This gave the research team access to the nutritional and health data of more than 570,000 individuals in the US, Italy, China, and Iran, enabling them to compare the outcomes of those who consumed chillis to those who did not.
The investigation revealed that those who “rarely” or “never” consumed chillis had:
A relative decrease in cardiovascular mortality of 26%
A relative decrease in cancer mortality of 23%
A 25% decrease in mortality from all causes
According to senior author Bo Xu, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, “we were surprised to find that in these previously published studies, regular consumption of chilli pepper was associated with an overall risk-reduction of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality.”
He stated, “It shows that dietary habits may play an essential influence in general health.”
“The particular causes and mechanisms that might explain our findings, nevertheless, are yet unknown,” Dr. Xu cautioned.
Therefore, it is impossible to declare with certainty that consuming more chili peppers will increase life expectancy and decrease mortality, particularly from cancer or cardiovascular diseases.
“More research is required to corroborate these preliminary findings, particularly evidence from randomized controlled studies.”
Additionally, Dr. Xu warned that this kind of research has a number of drawbacks. There were few particular health data on individuals or other factors that could have affected the results in the four trials that were analyzed.
The researchers also noted that the amount and type of chilli pepper consumed was variable among the studies, making it difficult to draw conclusions about exactly how much, how often and which type of chilli pepper consumption may be associated with health benefits.
The research team said they are continuing to analyse their data and aim to publish a full paper in due course.
