As many people of  African descent,  spicy foods have been part of my diet for as long as I can remember. I seem to not get enough of the burning sensation that comes after eating a spicy meal –I don't like them too spicy though🌶🌶🥵

Some cultures are well known to spice up most of their meals with the famous chili peppers while it's almost non-existent in other cultural diets. I was once invited by a friend to try authentic Bangladeshi foods,  I couldn't finish my portion of the meal. The burning sensation was out of control. Though, it was one of the delicious food I ever had 😊

So what is the deal with eating chilly pepper regularly? Does it hide some health benefits?

Well, according to recent research from the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2020, eating chili papers can reduce your risk of dying from all causes, especially heart disease and cancer, by 25 percent. ( source: Bicycling magazine,  issue 6, 2020)

That sounds pretty awesome! 😊is it ain't?

It was revealed that the compound that gives chilies their heat – called capsaicin – can be good for cardiovascular health and boost metabolism and performance.

What the study say?

(source: Bicycling magazine,  issue 6, 2020)

Researchers worked on a sample of 570,000 people from five global health database, which included people from the United States, Italy, China, and Iran. They then examined the health outcomes of those who reported eating chili pepper and those who said they rarely or never ate chili pepper.

Compared to those who regularly avoided spicy foods, the chili lover consumers had a 26 percent-lower risk of dying from heart disease; 23 percent-lower risk of dying from cancer, and a 25 percent-lower risk of dying from any cause.

The researchers are continuing to analyze their data and said more studies are needed to reach a firm conclusion, but this is good news to hot food lovers like me and those who might join it.

As Mr Xu, one of the researchers said, "dietary factors may play an important role in overall health".

Foods rarely come with negative side effects unlike drugs, so it is worth trying to spice up a little your meals😊

Don't really like chili pepper?... Curry also has similar health benefits

Credit: Buenosia Carol

If you don't really like hot food and can't make peace with them, that's ok. Nothing wrong with that.

The Indian spice turmeric, which gives curry powder has shown to have carcinogen-blocking effects. In another word, eating curry can prevent you from getting cancer!

Nutritionist Micheal Greger, M.D., FACLM wrote in his best-selling book How Not To Die that since 1087, the National Cancer Institute has tested more than a thousand different compounds for cancer-preventing activity. While only a few dozen have made it to clinical trial, the most promising is curcumin, the bright yellow pigment in turmeric.

So does it work?

Cancer is caused by mutating cells, which somehow can't die and keep replicating themselves throughout the body. Researchers found that curcumin was indeed an effective antimutagen against several common cancer-causing substances. Saying it in a simple way, curry power is capable to stop cells from mutating.

Greger wrote, "curcumin can also kill cancer cells by activating  "execution enzymes" called caspases inside cancer cells that destroy them from within by chopping up their proteins.

After various studies done in vitro,  curcumin has been also found to be effective against a variety of other cancer, including those of breast, brain, blood, colon kidney, liver, lungs, and skin.

One more reason to enjoy my chicken curry meal😁