Chilli Peppers

Medical Sciences, tracked the health of nearly half a million participants in China for several years. They found that participants who ate spicy food once or twice a week had a mortality rate 10% lower than those who ate spicy food less than once a week. Risk of death reduced still further for people who ate spicy food six or seven days a week. Chilli peppers were the most commonly used spice among the sample, and those who ate fresh chilli had a lower probability of death from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. The health-promoting properties of chillies can be found in capsaicin, which is the odorless, colorless chemical compound that makes chillies hot. Inside a chilli, there are yellow stalks that attach the seeds to its sides, and in many types of chilli, this is the location of capsaicin, but there are several varieties where this is not the case. The heat of a chilli is measured in Scoville heat units, which is the number of times a sample of dissolved dried chilli must be diluted by its own weight in sugar water before it loses its heat.