Researchers from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont in the United States, U.S, used data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) III, to look at 16,179 participants at least 18 years of age, who were followed for up to 23 years.
The ‘Sunday Times’ reported that the researchers used the information to assess the characteristics of the participants according to their consumption of hot red chilli peppers. The chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae.
The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. Although peppers and spices have been thought to be beneficial for health for centuries, studies on the ingredients are limited.
As only one other study—which was conducted in China and published in 2015 —has previously looked at a possible association between chili pepper consumption and mortality, the researchers wanted to find further evidence to support the link in their own study.
The study found that those who ate more of the spicy ingredient tended to be “younger, male, white, Mexican-American, married, and to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and consume more vegetables and meats . . . had lower HDL-cholesterol, lower income, and less education,” in comparison to participants who did not consume red chilli peppers.
Similarly, they found that the participants who consumed hot red chilli peppers benefited from a 13 per cent reduction in risk of death, mainly thanks to a reduction in deaths related to heart disease or stroke.
It is as yet unclear what is causing the positive association between chili peppers and life expectancy. However, the researchers put forward the suggestion that it could be the principal component in chilli peppers, capsicum.
Capsicum is believed to play a role in the mechanisms that prevent obesity, modulate coronary blood flow, and also has antimicrobial properties that “may indirectly affect the host by altering the gut microbiota” with changes in bacterial composition linked to cardiovascular disease amongst other conditions.
Furthermore, the study found that the nutrients in hot red chilli peppers such as B-vitamins, vitamin C and pro-A vitamin could also partly account for its protective effect.
The team now suggest that red chilli peppers “may be a beneficial component of the diet” and that further research in the form of clinical trials should be carried out.
It must be noted that chilli peppers are predominantly used in Africa, especially in Nigeria as spices for most staple foods. "Red pepper", as it is commonly known, is consumed in almost every home in Nigerian villages on a daily basis. Experts say this could explain why people in the villages live longer than those in the cities where several other kinds of pepper (most of which are adulterated when ground) are sold.
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