The question is: I eat spicy food almost every day. I love
the taste and tingle, but I wonder: How is all that heat affecting my body?
Eating spicy food can produced a variety of physiological
reactions, like a tingling in the tongue and lips, as well as sweating, said
David Julius, a physiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
اضافة اعلان
According to him, eating spicy food is a sensory experience
and can even make life a bit more interesting.
However, here is the science about how spicy food affects
the body.
It makes you sweatLovers of spicy food are likely to be familiar with one
immediate physical reaction – sweating.
Some of the spiciest foods contain compounds that bind to
nerve receptors along the gastrointestinal tract, including the mouth, that are
activated by heat.
Chiles, the flavorful backbone of many spicy dishes, contain
the compound capsaicin, which binds to those receptors and then sends a pain
signal to the brain, as Julius discovered in his Nobel Prize winning work on
the topic.
The main chemicals found in peppercorns, horseradish, and
mustard also bind to the same receptors, although they are less potent.
These nerves send similar signals to the brain as they would
if you came into contact with actual fire, which is why you might start
sweating or become flushed, that’s the body’s way of cooling itself down.
“Capsaicin fools your body into thinking the temperature has
risen, and so your brain thinks it needs to shed heat,” Julius said. “In
humans, we mostly do that by sweating.”
It can cause gastrointestinal distressEating spicy food, in moderation, is generally safe for
people who do not already have stomach issues.
However, it can cause inflammation to the areas that aid
digestion and can sometimes lead to heartburn, stomachaches or diarrhea.
People with gastritis, which occurs when the lining of the
stomach is inflamed, may be especially susceptible to increased abdominal pain.
It may benefit healthStudies have shown that consuming spicy foods can be
associated with some health benefits. One study found that taking a daily
supplement of capsaicin (containing the amount in four or five habanero
peppers) sped up metabolism, where participants burned the equivalent of an
extra 200 calories per day over a 14-week period.
In a 2022 study involving more than 6,000 adults, scientists
found that chile intake was linked with a reduction in calcium buildup in the
walls of the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart.
It is unclear, however, whether eating spicy foods can
reduce the likelihood of obesity or heart attacks in the long term.
The evidence is mixed on whether spicy foods raise or lower
cancer risk. A few studies have found that daily consumption of chiles is
associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer, but not of gastric or
colorectal cancers.
And while several experiments performed on cells in labs
have found that capsaicin and piperine — the chemical found in peppercorns —
may help impede or destroy human breast cancer cells, scientists don’t yet know
if these findings might lead to potential treatment.
One study published in 2015, of nearly half a million people
in China, found that those who ate spicy food six to seven times per week for
several years had a 14 percent reduced risk of death compared with those who
ate spicy food less than once per week.
The researchers thought these results were possibly related
to the spicy foods’ antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which can
protect against conditions such as diabetes and certain types of cardiovascular
disease.
Rarely, extreme reactions can occurIn rare cases, very hot peppers have caused extreme
physiological reactions, like thunderclap headaches or vomiting so severe it
ruptured someone’s esophagus.
If you have bitten into food that has more spice than you
can handle, reach for something with high fat content, like milk or sour cream,
Julius said. Capsaicin is a fat-soluble compound, so it won’t dissolve in water
no matter how much you drink.
It is important to respect how much heat your body can take,
Julius added.
But if you love spicy foods and your body can handle them,
experts say, there’s no reason to avoid them.
Read more Good Food
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
