They reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. This kind of thing always makes me question such studies, though:
Chen and his colleagues turned to hamsters for the study, animals that serve as stand-ins for humans in research that cannot be done in people. They gave the hamsters high-cholesterol diets, divided them into groups, and supplemented each group’s food with either no capsaicinoids (the control group) or various amounts of capsaicinoids. The scientists then analyzed the effects.
In addition to reducing total cholesterol levels in the blood, capsaicinoids reduced levels of the so-called “bad” cholesterol (which deposits into blood vessels), but did not affect levels of so-called “good” cholesterol. The team found indications that capsaicinoids may reduce the size of deposits that already have formed in blood vessels, narrowing arteries in ways that can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
Capsaicinoids also blocked the activity of a gene that produces cyclooxygenase-2, a substance that makes the muscles around blood vessels constrict. By blocking it, muscles can relax and widen, allowing more blood to flow.
Emphasis mine. The assumption is that one gets high cholesterol from dietary cholesterol, when in fact there’s little evidence to substantiate that. But in this case, I don’t think it invalidates the research, fortunately.
Speaking of nutrition myths, here’s one that says bacon is good for you, but still gets it wrong:
Nutritionist Zoe Harcombe says: ‘Typically, about 45 per cent of the fat in pork is unsaturated. Most of that is oleic acid, the same healthy fat found in olive oil, which is known to help lower cholesterol levels.
‘Of course, the rest is unhealthy saturated fat, so moderation is key.’
Repeat after me: there is nothing wrong with saturated fat. In fact, it is much healthier than seed oils with their high omega 6s, which is where we got too much of our dietary fat. The key is to cut back on the high-glycemic carbs.
http://www.fieryfoodsshow.com/
😀
I’ve carefully tended by bhut jolokia ghost chili plant through the winter, so it’s starting this spring as an already full sized plant. Hopefully it will produce enough capsaicinoids to treat the entire US. Unfortunately its 1 million Scovilles has been surpassed by the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, the latter pushing 2 million Scoville units.
This kind of thing reminds me of the US and Soviet Union building ever more powerful H-bombs in the 1950s, culminating in those monster 50-100 MT giants tested by the USSR. Unless you’re breeding the peppers for use in weapons (e.g. pepper spray), a Scoville rating of 2 million is insane. That’s getting to the point where it might raise blisters.
I have a wussy brother who believes “food shouldn’t hurt.” He won’t eat spicy food. I like spicy food but not to the point where you’re risking physical injury. It’s had enough when you have those “in and out” peppers that hurt you in both directions.
OK, I had a real problem with the title for a minute there. Then I read the post and breathed a sigh of relief.
Yep, my name gets mispronounced *all* @#$%! time…
Hard to believe anyone could mispronounce “Pat.”
Do you live in the southwest Pat? 😀
Here in New Mexico we use the spelling “chile” for the fruit & “chili” for the dish.
George,I have 6 Trinindad Moruga Scorpion seeds germinating right now,bought them at the Fiery Foods Show ($3 for 6 seeds!!!)
Oooo…. That’s a good price! There are some really funny Youtube videos under “Moruga”. Pure pain.
And the worst fat of all is fat high in trans-unsaturates – often found in commercial pre-prepared food and in frying oil that’s been used more than once.