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Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

well.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#21

Post by jpatokal »

tinco wrote: post #10

China has eight main cuisines related to different areas in China. Some of these cuisines are spicy and some are not. Obviously a whole lot other things also differ together with the spices in these cuisines. It would be nice if they'd asked if the subjects identified with a specific cuisine/area. There could also be a wealth relation. The poorer Guandong (Cantonese) kitchen has little less chili than the famously sp…

That may be true historically, but today's Guangdong, wrapping around Hong Kong, home to Shenzhen and a vast number of exporters, is twice as rich as landlocked Sichuan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_administrative...

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#22

Post by PythonicAlpha »

ekianjo wrote: post #17
PythonicAlpha wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> After controlling for family medical history, age, education, diabetes, smoking and many other variables Did not convince me. And as I stated, I read a different (German) source, where definitively other possible correlations where named -- when one group contains clearly more rural people as the other, the whole statement that "no clear rationale" can be found, is questionable in my opinion, even when it is not po…

> that urban people are living less healthy lives Actually people in urban centers live clearly longer than in the country side. So I'm not sure what you are talking about.

In my country, it is quite different. And I will not speculate further about a country, I don't know. I just wanted to say, that even when the authors of the study do not know the other variables and interconnections, there might be some.

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#24

Post by derekp7 »

One thing that I don't quite understand -- what is it about spicy food that makes it desirable? Esp. the super hot peppers? I know that I love them, but I can't really say why (after all, I normally try to avoid pain). The only thing I can think of is that part of the brain knows that the pain isn't "real" (that is, it isn't being caused by something that is damaging you), yet another part is releasing endorphins to counteract the pain, causing a mild euphoria. But I haven't really found much information to back up this theory.

I do know that at times when I get a spell of mild depression, munching on some hot peppers seems to pull me out of it.

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#25

Post by seizethecheese »

Since some comments are trying to explain away the findings, here is a quote from the article about what variables were controlled for and the results:

> After controlling for family medical history, age, education, diabetes, smoking and many other variables, the researchers found that compared with eating hot food, mainly chili peppers, less than once a week, having it once or twice a week resulted in a 10 percent reduced overall risk for death. Consuming spicy food six to seven times a week reduced the risk by 14 percent.

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#27

Post by mirimir »

wslh wrote: post #16

Previous with TLDR: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10008028

It still makes no sense to me. There are numerous spices. But given that this is a Chinese study, maybe "spicy" means five-spice powder, or maybe just Sichuan pepper. And of course, health claims have also been asserted for several Indian spices. Personally, I'd go for a Goan/Sichuan hybrid :)

Edit: OK, I see "mainly chili peppers". So are chili peppers more commonly used in China than Sichuan pepper?

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#28

Post by bsder »

"Spicy" things tend to have anti-microbial properties. That could certainly trigger a beneficial intestinal flora change--especially in places without a good refrigerated handling chain.

Spicy food also has a tendency to clear sinuses. I believe a couple of studies have shown that clearing sinuses occasionally (but not too often) is beneficial.

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#29

Post by akyu »

I love spicy food so this is great news. But lately I've been wondering about the potential effect of spicy food on gut bacteria. Anyone who's had a painful bowl movement after eating some high Scoville level hot sauce knows what I'm talking about.

Re: Eating Spicy Food Linked to a Longer Life

#30

Post by thebooktocome »

mirimir wrote: post #27
wslh wrote: post #16

Previous with TLDR: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10008028

It still makes no sense to me. There are numerous spices. But given that this is a Chinese study, maybe "spicy" means five-spice powder, or maybe just Sichuan pepper. And of course, health claims have also been asserted for several Indian spices. Personally, I'd go for a Goan/Sichuan hybrid :) Edit: OK, I see "mainly chili peppers". So are chili peppers more commonly used in China than Sichuan pepper?

I don't understand; Sichuan pepper (花椒, huajiao) isn't spicy. Wikipedia confirms:

"Sichuan pepper's unique aroma and flavour is not hot or pungent like black, white, or chili peppers. Instead, it has slight lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth (caused by its 3% of hydroxy alpha sanshool) that sets the stage for hot spices."

Chinese cooking uses many different kinds of spicy peppers, however. For instance, heaven-facing peppers (朝天椒, chaotianjiao) are pretty common in Sichuan cooking. Maybe that's what you mean?

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