When it comes to eating spicy foods, everyone has their unique preferences.
Some people love eating spicy foods all the time and will add enough spices when cooking and make it really hot. Some people prefer to make certain dishes spicy and some don’t like spicy foods at all. There are people who are neutral and will just eat without minding the spice.
Whatever category you fall into, this article will be helpful to give you insight into whether you should care if foods are spicy.
There are a lot of different opinions as to how good spicy foods are for your health and we decided to help you understand how spicy food affects your health. Let’s look at the effects of spicy foods.
Advantages of Eating Spicy Foods
1. Pain Relief
There is a burning sensation that follows eating peppery foods and this sensation over an extended period of time will numb your feeling helping to combat and relieve pain.
People suffering from arthritis and headaches should take spicy foods since it sparks the release of body endorphins that helps to dull any sensation of pain in the body. Spicy foods are good anti-inflammatory; they also have a protective effect against ulcers by killing the bacteria known as Pylori.
2. Live Longer
Did you know that eating spicy foods will help to live a longer life? Now you know.
As surprising as it may seem, a study by Harvard University proposed that eating spicy foods regularly, i.e. on a daily basis, makes you more likely to live longer compared to people who eat less spicy foods.
The reason for this being that spicy foods have a lot of benefits like boosting the metabolism rate, improving the immune system and fighting common ailments. This helps you to maintain and live healthy consistently.
3. Helps in Weightloss
There are many factors that can cause you to gain weight such as inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, etc. however spicy foods help to promote weight loss and kick-start your metabolism.
Eating spicy foods makes you feel more satisfied, making you eat less; also the “fire” in your mouth will slow down food consumption and allow you to take lots of water.
Also, capsaicin, an active element of chili peppers give this feeling in the mouth, can speed up the metabolism, helping to increase the burn of calories. Obviously, these weight-loss advantages disappear if the spicy meals are high in fat or you pair it with a cold beer.
4. keep your heart healthy.
People who eat red chili peppers have been shown to have lower levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein), which is sometimes called “bad” cholesterol because it increases the risk of heart disease.
Recent research found that consuming these peppers is associated with a 13 percent lower incidence of deaths from heart disease and stroke.
Heart disease can also be caused by obesity — which capsaicin may help combat
5. Helps immune system fight cold
Peppers are very rich in Vitamin A and C. These vitamins will help to boost the immune system and shorten the cold’s duration.
However, capsaicin only has a short-term decongestant effect and it may be beneficial for a stuffy nose and head congestion. It also helps to loosen the phlegm in the lungs and makes it easier to breathe.
6. Reduces Cancer Risk
Research has shown that consumption of large quantities of peppers is effective against breast, pancreatic and bladder cancers.
According to the American Association for Cancer Research, capsaicin has the ability to kill some cancer and leukemic cells. Tumeric is also another great spice that slows down the spread of cancer and the growth of tumors.
7. Prevents Bad Breath
Another advantage of eating spice especially pepper is that it helps to prevent bad breath. Nothing irritates than having to deal with a person with bad breath.
Eating hot pepper powder can serve as a disinfectant to your mouth and help in improving the odor of your breath.
Now that we have seen the amazing benefits of spicy foods, let’s look at the other side of the coin.
Disadvantages and Negative effects of spicy food
1. Skin irritation
Spicy foods like hot pepper can cause a major burn or strong itching when it gets in contact with eyes or lips.
In order to avoid skin irritation, it is important to wash your hands immediately after handling hot pepper. You can also apply lip balm before eating as it will protect the delicate lips’ skin.
2. Loss of taste buds
Too strong peppers can not only leave your mouth on fire, but they can also scorch taste buds. The effect is temporary as taste buds recover quite quickly and you can drink milk in order to put out the fire.
However, in the long-term effect, eating spicy foods regularly can dull your taste buds’ sensitivity and eventually end up in a loss of taste of buds. So, keep those spicy meals under control!
3. Haemorrhoid pain
Capsaicin doesn’t break down as it passes through the digestive system. Therefore, you can get scorched as it makes its way out of your body.
This is very unfortunate for those who have hemorrhoids as you are going to suffer from strong hemorrhoid pain.
Summary
Spicy foods are amazing and have a lot of health benefits. If you love eating spicy foods, then you should be aware that you are doing the right thing, as long as you eat healthy foods.
If you are not soo much a fan of spicy, you should consider adding it to your weekly eating plan. Don’t forget that you can shop for quality, fresh, organic and nutritious spices here on organicfoods.com.ng
