Spicing up your meals might extend your life

Some like it hot, and a new study finds that folks who favor spicy foods might also have a lower risk of premature death. The study was based on a large multi-year food analysis. It found that adults who reported eating spicy foods -- such as fresh and dried chili pepper -- as little as three days per week were less likely to die during the study period than those who consumed such foods less than once a week. "The finding is very simple," said study lead author Dr. Lu Qi, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "If you eat more spicy food, it's better for your health and lowers the risk for mortality, especially as it relates to cancer and heart disease."
However, the study authors cautioned that their investigation was not able to draw a direct cause-and-effect link between the consumption of spicy foods and lower mortality. They could only find an association between these factors. Qi and his colleagues published their findings in the Aug. 4 online edition of BMJ. Between 2004 and 2008, the study authors conducted dietary and health history surveys among roughly 199,000 men and 288,000 women from 10 different regions in China. The participants were between the ages of 30 and 79. People with a prior history of cancer, heart disease or stroke were excluded from the study. The median study follow-up was seven years. During that time, more than 20,000 participants died.
The team did not tally exactly how much spice participants included in individual meals, or how "hot" each respondent's overall diet actually was. But the investigators generally found that eating fresh spicy foods as little as once or twice a week was associated with a 10 percent drop in the overall risk for death during the study, compared with eating such foods less than once weekly.
Health Day

 

Spicing up your meals might extend your life

Some like it hot, and a new study finds that folks who favor spicy foods might also have a lower risk of premature death. The study was based on a large multi-year food analysis. It found that adults who reported eating spicy foods -- such as fresh and dried chili pepper -- as little as three days per week were less likely to die during the study period than those who consumed such foods less than once a week. The finding is very simple, said study lead author Dr. Lu Qi, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. If you eat more spicy food, its better for your health and lowers the risk for mortality, especially as it relates to cancer and heart disease. However, the study authors cautioned that their investigation was not able to draw a direct cause-and-effect link between the consumption of spicy foods and lower mortality. They could only find an association between these factors. Qi and his colleagues published their findings in the Aug. 4 online edition of BMJ. Between 2004 and 2008, the study authors conducted dietary and health history surveys among roughly 199,000 men and 288,000 women from 10 different regions in China. The participants were between the ages of 30 and 79. People with a prior history of cancer, heart disease or stroke were excluded from the study. The median study follow-up was seven years. During that time, more than 20,000 participants died. The team did not tally exactly how much spice participants included in individual meals, or how hot each respondents overall diet actually was. But the investigators generally found that eating fresh spicy foods as little as once or twice a week was associated with a 10 percent drop in the overall risk for death during the study, compared with eating such foods less than once weekly. Health Day