If you love spicy food, you’re in luck!
Not only does spicy food taste great, but there are several benefits to eating spicy food. To begin with, spicy food may help you lose weight, or at least maintain your weight. That’s right, you may actually be able to eat more to lose weight. That’s because eating spicy food can help boost your metabolism. When you eat spicy food, it sometimes makes you crave fewer calories, which could help with weight loss. Hot peppers may also help with cardiovascular health. Some studies have found a connection between eating hot peppers and a lowered risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
Its thought hot peppers may help keep your blood pressure and your cholesterol in check, as well.
Capsaicin, the compound naturally found in hot peppers, is often credited with a range of health benefits. Peppers are also packed with healthy substances, such as vitamin C. Another healthy benefit has to do with seasonal allergies. It seems the capsaicin in hot peppers sometimes helps with a runny nose caused by allergies. If you’re prone to mood swings, eating hot peppers can sometimes be a mood boost. That’s because in response to the “burn” you experience by eating hot peppers, the spicy hot flavor leads your body to release endorphins, which can help lift your mood.
While these are all, of course, good reasons to eat more spicy food, there may be an occasional drawback.
Some people claim they get heartburn from spicy food. Others say eating spicy food increases their heart rate and causes their internal temperature to rise, making their face turn red and even sweat a bit. You may even feel a little pain on your tongue, but remember, the burning pain from hot peppers is usually just temporary. Unless you have a more serious reaction or your doctor tells you to stay away from spicy food, it’s probably not enough to entice spicy food lovers to give up the intense flavors of the hot pepper scale.