Keeping healthy, with the goal of living a long life, is hard work. There’s plenty of exhausting things to do and so many rules to follow. You need to exercise regularly, stay physically active, avoid junk food, eat more fruits and vegetables, sleep early — in short, practice healthy lifestyle habits that seem (and sound) way less fun than having a devil-may-care lifestyle. But if you want to feel good and stay young for as long as you can stretch it, then you’ll have to work for it — that, and eat a lot of spicy food.

According to the latest studies, spicy foods, especially chili peppers, are the secret to a healthy long life. Researchers found that people in the U.S. and China who enjoy eating spicy food tend to live longer than those who don’t. And now, a study by Italian researchers has found the same thing to be true for Europeans, or at least Italians living in Southern Italy. Interestingly, the researchers also found that eating spicy food frequently protected people from early death, regardless of whether or not they followed a healthy diet.

“An interesting fact is that protection from mortality risk was independent of the type of diet people followed. In other words, someone can follow the healthy Mediterranean diet, someone else can eat less healthily, but for all of them chilli pepper has a protective effect,” said Marialaura Bonaccio, a researcher at the IRCCS Neuromed in Italy and lead author of the study.

Bonaccio and her team’s findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Chili peppers, the key to longevity

The Mediterranean diet isn’t all about olive oil, greens, nuts and seafood — chili peppers are also a huge part of the diet. People who live on the Mediterranean diet are famous for living long lives, but not many studies have explored how chili peppers contribute to this particular health benefit.

In 2015, an observational study by American, British and Chinese researchers reported that men and women who ate spicy foods daily enjoyed a 14 percent reduced risk of early death. To be exact, they were less likely to die from heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases than those who rarely ate spicy foods. Fresh and dried chili peppers were the most consumed spice by the study participants.

Intrigued by this relationship, Bonaccio and her colleagues decided to explore if these findings also hold true in a large sample of Italian adults living in Molise, Italy. Of the 22,811 men and women who participated, they researchers reported that 1,236 died over a median follow-up of 8.2 years.

Those who ate chili peppers regularly had a lower risk of dying from ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (e.g., stroke, aneurysm) than those who rarely or never consumed the spice. Meanwhile, participants who did not suffer from hypertension had an even lower risk of early death due to the above-mentioned diseases.

These findings led to the conclusion that eating chili peppers on a daily basis can reduce your risk of death due to heart disease, regardless of risk factors and the type of diet you have.

“Over the centuries, beneficial properties of all kinds have been associated with its [chili pepper] consumption, mostly on the basis of anecdotes or traditions, if not magic,” said Licia Iacoviello, senor author of the study.

“And now, as already observed in China and in the United States, we know that the various plants of the capsicum species, although consumed in different ways throughout the world, can exert a protective action towards our health.”

Other benefits of eating chili peppers

Different varieties of chili peppers exist, but all of them are linked to the same health benefits. Here are four remarkable ones that you may not be aware of : (h/t to Self.com)

1. Eating chili peppers helps with weight loss – Chili peppers can add a bit more excitement to foods that you might find bland or boring. But that’s not all they do: Capsaicin, a chemical found in chilis, can also speed up your metabolism, pushing your body to burn more calories even while sitting. This property of chilis can help you lose or manage your weight naturally.
2. Eating chili peppers can help prevent cancer – According to studies, capsaicin is not only great for weight loss; it also has cancer-fighting abilities and is able to kill some cancer and leukemic cells. A recent study from the University of Maryland also revealed that capsaicin can alter the expression of cancer-related genes, which affects their growth and ability to spread.
3. Eating chili peppers helps lower blood pressure – One of the ways chili peppers reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke is by decreasing blood pressure. All of this is the work of capsaicin, which can relax blood vessels. This chemical increases the production of nitric oxide, a known vasodilator that is also capable of protecting blood vessels against inflammation.
4. Eating chili peppers can improve your mood – Spicy foods like chilis boost the production of feel-good hormones known as serotonin. This brain chemical regulates mood and social behavior, appetite and digestion, sleep, memory and sexual function. High levels of serotonin helps keep depression at bay.

Opting for healthy choices when it comes to your daily habits and the foods that you eat may be challenging, but its the surest way to keep your mind and body strong and functioning optimally. Exercise regularly and stick to a well-balanced diet that includes spicy foods like chili pepppers to live a longer and healthier life.

Sources:

Heart.co.uk

ScienceDaily.com

ScienceDirect.com

Self.com

NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

MedicalNewsToday.com 1

MedicalNewsToday.com 2