Live data from Hacker News

Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

sciencebulletin.org

61–70 of 96 posts

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> eating more vegetables and meats What is everyone living on? Just bread?

Rice, breads, and noodles do make up a very large percentage of many people's diets, especially when you're in poverty.

It's not just a diet: it's an empire. ;)

http://www.maruchan.com/

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> eating more vegetables and meats What is everyone living on? Just bread?

And doughnuts, coffee, ramen, and soda.

Replace doughnuts with Banquet dinners and you described my college years well. I mean, there was also alcohol involved.

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#63

I love hot stuff, I only avoid it because I hate having a runny nose. Is that something that goes away with consistent exposure?

Well, yes, as your tolerance builds your reaction to the heat will reduce and so will your runny nose.

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#65

Man, I should live forever then. I love hot peppers. Well, OK, I usually use bottled pepper sauces of various sorts, not whole, fresh peppers themselves. So maybe that doesn't work. But if it's just the capsaicin, then I get plenty of it... jalapeno pepper, cayenne pepper, chipotle pepper, scotch bonnet pepper, habanero pepper, ghost pepper (naga jolokia), trinidad scorpion pepper, carolina reaper peppers... I love '…

I want to eat them but they burn me up. Not sure if gradual progression starting at Jalapeno will knock that out over time or if you gotta be born with it. My brother & his household are about hot peppers. I give him free Ghost pepper sauce just to watch the results of them trying to add it to stuff or drink it straight. He'd have to be totally dehydrated after a day in the desert to look the same as what it does haha.

So, what do all yall think about building up a tolerance so I can enjoy more spicy stuff maybe with some health benefits? Does that even work?

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#66

some kind of correlation effect, perhaps? my speculation: eating more chili peppers is associated (positively) with a more varied and nutritious diet

This is what I suspect. There's pretty clear evidence that most American's don't eat nearly enough roughage. Peppers count as roughage, and are often paired with other healthy/fresh items. Similar correlations have been found with avocados. Avocados aren't particularly healthy when compared to other fruits and vegetables (not to say that they're unhealthy), however eating avocados correlates with better overall dieta…

This is a great comment. I particularly agree that people eating real peppers are probably eating other healthy things. Really important to capture all these incidental things that exist in the group one is studying to see if it's actually those having the effect. We also know that many foods they might be buying fresh have direct health benefits. Naturally, I wonder if if the peppers's benefits, the big ones, are just incidental on top of the type of people eating them or their other food intake.

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#68
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I swear I recall some Canadian study that showed capsaicin to reverse one of the types of diabetes. IIRC it was published in Cell but I can't entirely recall, it was so long ago.

This one? http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(06)01534-0

That and another one, yes!

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#69

Man, I should live forever then. I love hot peppers. Well, OK, I usually use bottled pepper sauces of various sorts, not whole, fresh peppers themselves. So maybe that doesn't work. But if it's just the capsaicin, then I get plenty of it... jalapeno pepper, cayenne pepper, chipotle pepper, scotch bonnet pepper, habanero pepper, ghost pepper (naga jolokia), trinidad scorpion pepper, carolina reaper peppers... I love '…

I want to eat them but they burn me up. Not sure if gradual progression starting at Jalapeno will knock that out over time or if you gotta be born with it. My brother & his household are about hot peppers. I give him free Ghost pepper sauce just to watch the results of them trying to add it to stuff or drink it straight. He'd have to be totally dehydrated after a day in the desert to look the same as what it does hah…

I mean... to me, the possible health benefits are pretty tenuous. I probably wouldn't make it a point to pursue eating progressively hotter food on the off chance there might be some minuscule health benefit. To me, the reason for eating hot foods is because they're tasty and good, and it's an enjoyable experience.

FWIW, though, I didn't always like hot stuff. In fact, up through probably my mid 20's, I really didn't eat much spicy food at all. It wasn't until I moved to a more urban area and did two things that my taste for hot stuff started to develop. One, I started hanging out at sports bars to watch football, and got into eating buffalo wings. Two, I discovered Thai food and started eating that a lot. And over time I just found myself wanting the stuff hotter and hotter. I never made a conscious decision to say "Hey, I hope to one day be one of those guys who eats crazy hot food loaded with Ghost Pepper sauce." It just kinda happened.

So I guess I'd say... eat what you like. Branch out now and then just to explore and expand your boundaries, but I wouldn't suggest making eating a painful experience for no particular reason. shrug

Re: Study finds association between eating hot peppers and decreased mortality

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> eating more vegetables and meats What is everyone living on? Just bread?

Rice, breads, and noodles do make up a very large percentage of many people's diets, especially when you're in poverty.

Indeed, these kinds of “staples” have made up the bulk of calories in pretty much all peasant diets around the world for the past 5000+ years.

Not just rice and wheat, but also including oats, barley, rye, maize, quinoa, potatoes, yams, manioc (a.k.a. cassava, yuca), taro, plantains, soybeans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, beans, etc.

Reliance on staples is the main reason that agricultural societies tend to have substantially shorter stature, shorter life expectancy, and more health problems than hunter–gatherer societies.

In recent times, the biggest problem is sugar though. Modern people consume ridiculous quantities of refined sugar in processed foods, fast restaurant food, soda and fruit juice, etc. Consuming large quantities of alcohol also isn’t helping anything.

Post reply on HN