Could Chili Peppers Reduce Risk of All-Cause Mortality?

Habitually eating spicy foods is inversely associated with mortality, particularly from cancer, ischemic heart diseases, and respiratory diseases, according to a recent study.

In order to examine the relationship between the consumption of spicy food and mortality rates, researchers conducted a population based prospective cohort study of 199,293 men and 288,082 women between the ages of 30 and 79 years from 2004 and 2008. The frequency of spicy food consumption, as well as the types of spices used in food preparation, was assessed during the administration of a baseline questionnaire.
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During follow-up, 11820 deaths among men and 8404 deaths among women were reported.

Overall, the risk for all-cause mortality was 10% lower among participants who ate spicy foods 1-2 days per week and 14% lower among those who ate spicy foods 3-7 days per week than in those who ate them less than once per week.

Specifically, deaths from cancer, ischemic heard disease, and respiratory diseases were significantly lower in those participants consuming higher amounts of spicy food (particularly chili pepper), a fact that researchers said could be attributed to capsaicin, the active component of chilies, which has been shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antihypertensive effects.

“Our analyses showed significant inverse associations between spicy food consumption and total and certain cause specific mortality (cancer, ischemic heart diseases, and respiratory diseases),” they concluded.

“Further prospective studies in other populations would be essential to demonstrate generalizability of these findings. More evidence will lead to updated dietary recommendations and development of functional foods, such as herbal supplements.“

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Jun LV, Qi L, Yu C, et al. Consumption of spicy foods and total and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study. BMJ. 2015;351:h3942.