blistering sauce — whilenot literally hot — can still make your mouth feel like a chemical substance wasteweir zone . But despite what your brain is telling you when you consume it , spicy food can be extremely just for you in the long run .
A newspaper published this summertime in theBMJshowed that out of a half - million Chinese adults , those who ate spicy foods three or more times per hebdomad had a 14 percent shorten risk of expiry compare to those who did n’t . This phenomenon is for the most part due to the participating componentcapsaicin , which is responsible for for a hot black pepper ’s burning effect . scientist still are n’t in understanding on how precisely capsaicin works in the trunk , butTIMEwas able to speak with two leading capsicum pepper plant experts to get their take .
David Popovich , a self - exclaim hot sauce lover and senior reader in human sustenance atMassey University , has studied the compound ’s impression on cancer cellphone specifically . When he supply capsaicin to the top of one , its cell growth would reduce . He said that one possible account for this is that it triggersapoptosis , in which cells undergo a controlled death in lodge to be recycled into new cell . In plus to its anti - cancer effects , the chemical compound has also been shown to have antioxidant and anti - incitive properties .

While capsaicin receives most of the cite for hot peppers ’s health benefits , scientists are now finding that its interactions with other compounds are a vital part of the cognitive process . According to Popovich , hot pepper are most effective when deplete with rich . Capsaicin is a fat - soluble molecule , so pairing it with oil — as oppose to eating it with something like raw vegetable — appropriate the body to absorb more of it .
And do n’t imagine you need to start eating raging pepper whole in gild to receive their full benefits . José de Jesús Ornelas - Paz , a biochemist at the Research Center for Food and Development in Mexico , say that blend , cut , and cooking red-hot peppers helps to publish their bioactive compound , therefore make them promiscuous for your soundbox to steep . Our takeout : If you ’re seem to make the most of your pepper , study eating them in buffalo backstage sauce form .
[ h / t : TIME ]