Contents:
- Medical Video: Little Girl Regrets Trying Wasabi - 984907
- Eating spicy foods reduces the risk of death from cancer and heart disease
- How can chili extend life?
Medical Video: Little Girl Regrets Trying Wasabi - 984907
For lovers of spicy food, life feels incomplete if you eat side dishes without the presence of chili or sambal as a dining companion. Blessed are you who cannot live without chili. Apparently, besides functioning as an appetizer, research shows that eating spicy foods can prolong your life.
Eating spicy foods reduces the risk of death from cancer and heart disease
A study in the United States involving more than 16,000 participants aged 18 years or more found that the risk of death of people who regularly eat spicy foods could fall by up to 13 percent than people who do not like to eat chili.
Similar findings were also found in a Chinese study, which was quoted from the pageHealth. The results of the study concluded that groups of people who ate spicy food almost every day had a 14% reduction in their risk of death. Meanwhile, those who ate spicy food only twice a week found a decrease in risk of death of only 10 percent. People who eat spicy food only once a week and those who do not eat spicy food at all, the risk of death does not change.
Among female participants, those who like eating spicy foods are associated with lower deaths from cancer, heart disease and respiratory problems.
How can chili extend life?
Capsaicin has been shown to activate cell receptors in the lining of the intestine to create reactions that can reduce the risk of tumor growth by turning off over-reactive receptors. Activation of these receptors also plays a role in preventing obesity from within the body. Prevention of obesity will reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and also lung disease.
In addition, capsaicin in chili is effective in reducing levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and increasing levels of good cholesterol (HDL) in the body. This can improve the smooth flow of blood from and to the heart and cause a decrease in blood pressure due to the influence of nitric oxide in capsaicin on blood vessel dilation. In the end, the effect of smooth blood circulation can maintain heart health. Vitamins A and C contained in chili strengthen the walls of the heart muscle.
Reporting from Self, according to the American Association for Cancer Research, the compound capsaicin (which is also found in turmeric) has the ability to kill some types of cancer and leukemic cells. Researchers also found that capsaicin was able to kill 80 percent of prostate cancer (in mice) without endangering the normal cells around it.
Moreover, chili has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Chili is considered very effective to protect you from ulcers in the stomach. Abdominal wounds caused by H.pylori bacteria cause growth of boils, and capsaicin can help to kill these bacterial colonies.
Capsaicin has also been linked to the effectiveness of treatment of breast, pancreatic and bladder cancer, although you may need to take capsaicin in amounts that do not enter to be able to succeed - for example, five habanero chili in a week.
Don't eat too much spicy food
Although there have been many studies that report the benefits of spicy food for health, the researchers caution that these studies are still limited in observational nature so that they cannot determine their causal relationships with certainty. Further research is still needed to investigate the benefits and different effects that can be caused depending on each type of chili.
You might also want to limit spicy food at night. Eating spicy foods before bedtime can cause digestive disorders that can make it difficult for you to sleep well. Even if you are a person who can eat chili, chili and spicy foods can make it difficult for you to fall asleep due to capsaicin that changes body temperature.
As for how much spicy food you need to consume to get its benefits, doctors and experts advise you to start incorporating chili and turmeric into your diet at least 2-3 times a week - both raw, chili sauce, grill cooking ingredients, stir-fry , or baked whole.
In the end, instead of looking for a "super" food that can improve health and reduce the risk of death, it would be better to change your lifestyle towards a healthier one. Eat a balanced diet containing fruits and vegetables, limit salt intake, sugar, and saturated fats, exercise regularly, and avoid cigarettes and alcohol.
