Ask Dr. Denton: Some like it HOT! Are there Health Benefits to Eating Hot Peppers?

As for me, I'll take the mild pepper sauce.

What gives these hot peppers their bite also gives some wonderful health benefits. Capsaicin is a compound found in those little, big, long, small, fat, green, yellow, and red fire fruit, although most in the culinary world consider them vegetables. Capsaicin adds punch to the foods we eat and has some very positive health benefits. 

P>Portsmouth, VA. (Catholic Online) - I received a letter from a reader recently and I now share the heart of the letter, the question, with all of you:

Dear Dr Denton, As the harvests of late summer approach, can you tell me about the health value of hot peppers?

Let me begin with a story. Recently, my anesthesiologist (Doctor who puts you to sleep during surgery) had a birthday. His gift from Tracy our operating room manager and nurse was a bottle of what claimed to be the HOTTEST.. I mean THE HOTTEST .. Pepper based sauce made.

Mike added only one drop to his nacho and had to leave the room in tears and a few coughs. After consuming a very cold soft drink and a few minutes of eating anything and everything bland that he could find, he returned to the room confessing (Not to Fr. Tim mind you) his new belief in the veracity of that advertising claim! It really was THE HOTTEST sauce he had ever tasted!

My experience tells me to trust what Mike says and leave the sauce to the demise of his taste buds! I did not even consider assaulting my own taste buds. But, I know there are many like Mike who do, regularly. 'Pepper, pepper, oh sweet little pepper, you are not so nice to our lips, our tummies, or other Ends, but WOW do we still love you!'

In response to my reader's question let's consider the history of such peppers and whether there really is any health value to eating them and the products we make from them. Those products are multiplying and flying off the shelves these days. Some really do like it hot!

The first documented domestication (someone growing it in their garden) of the chili pepper was approximately 1000 years ago in what is today known as Mexico. Some argue such domestication occurred as far back as 3500 years. In 2007 the Smithsonian Institute discovered 100 cultivated chili peppers in a Zapotec village. Those same types of peppers (not so dry I might add) are still used in the Mexico's Mitla River Valley.

I have to tell you I was very impressed when I read about all of this. In a prior article we talked about the health benefits of cocoa = chocolate used by the ancient people of Mexico. Now we find they also cultivated peppers for consumption. It is really interesting that the more we find "new" health benefits the more we realize the power of that very old and first medicine we call food.

Back on point DOC!

Well what gives these hot peppers their bite also gives us some wonderful health benefits. Capsaicin  (cap say sin) is a compound found in those little, big, long, small, fat, green, yellow, and red fire fruit.  That's right FRUIT, although most in the culinary world consider them vegetables. The amount of heat produced in your mouth is measured in spicy units called Scoville Organoleptic units. 

In 1912 Wilbur Scoville developed a taste test for the heat of peppers and called them Scoville units. An extract (sugar water) was added to the chili pepper that diluted the hot taste. Once the panel of tasters first detected a taste dilution, a single Scoville unit was established. A standard green bell pepper has no capsaicin and is rated as 0 while the hottest chili peppers (habaneros, nagas) have a rating of 200,000 or higher. That means that the habanero has to be diluted 200,000 times before the hot taste is 0.. SMOKIN!!!!

Capsaicin not only adds punch to the foods we eat but also has some very positive effects on insulin and may even help to prevent prostate cancer.

In 2006 the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published an article that demonstrated adding chili peppers to a diet reduces the amount of insulin that appears in the blood after eating. Elevated postprandial = post-meal insulin levels that are too high is believed to lead to diabetes in some individuals. The study compared patients with chili pepper added to their meals vs. a control group who had bland meals. The results were consistent across the board.

Patients who ate spicy meals had lower post-meal insulin levels. Interestingly, those individuals who were overweight responded with the greatest protection. This suggests that those individuals who are overweight and trying to get back in shape would be wise to add a little spice to their lives- chili pepper spice that is!  Clearly not the King's English, sorry grandma. (PS: grandma was a great 1st grade teacher and I was just a wild kid in the back).

OK, OK ..back on point again!

The Australian research team also published an article in the British Journal of Nutrition, analyzing capsaicin's effects on cholesterol oxidation, which can lead to the formation of dangerous plaque = cholesterol build up in blood vessels. "We found that after adding chili to the diet, the LDL, or bad cholesterol, actually resisted oxidation for a longer period of time, [delaying] the development of a major risk for cardiovascular disease," (Kiran Ahuja coauthor).

In other studies which have been published, researchers using a rodent model found evidence that capsaicin can inhibit the development and progression of diabetes and can potentially assist in the destruction of prostate cancer cells.

Horticulturalist Paul W Borsland tells us a classic New Mexico chili can provide the minimum daily requirement of vitamin C. In fact, three times as much vitamin C as oranges.   The same chili when it turns red has twice as much vitamin A as a carrot. B vitamins are also present with especially high levels of B6. As for minerals, they contain potassium, magnesium, and iron.

Roberta Anding, a dietitian at Baylor College of Medicine, puts everything into the correct perspective. She was quoted as saying, "Consider all the fabulous benefits of spinach, broccoli, turmeric, and capsaicin, perhaps these foods have a synergistic effect, so that the combination of eating a variety of plants will contribute to your overall health." I couldn't agree more, the combination of healthy produce is the essence of a beautiful meal and is real medicine for a beautiful body.

About 7000 years ago the people of this wonderful gift we call Earth started picking peppers. Clearly 1000 years ago in a Valley in Mexico the Zapotec people started harvesting these little hot babies and today we see the market filled with hotter and hotter sauces. As for me, I'll take the mild pepper sauce. As for Mike well .. I still ask him, 'how's your tongue'? Some do like it hot!

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Dr Denton D. Weiss, M.D. is board certified in both Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Weiss' approach to his medical practice flows from his convictions about the meaning of life which are deeply rooted in his Catholic Faith. He and his wife Michelle strive for an integrated approach to life which recognizes the unity of the body, mind and soul. They call this approach "Bella Vitae" or "Beautiful Living". He and Michelle are contributing writers to Catholic Online.

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