Pile on The Peppers to Shed Pounds
Reported May 03, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Imagine yourself eating your favorite Mexican meal topped with a generous pile of thinly sliced jalapeño peppers. What happens with that first firey bite? A little heat on the tongue? A bit of sweat on the brow?
Scientists are learning there is more to peppers than meets the eye (or the taste buds). There is growing evidence that the body-heat-generating power of peppers might lend a hand in our fight to lose those extra inches accumulating around our collective national waistline. Hot peppers contain a substance called capsaicin that not only adds spice to our food but can actually cause your body to heat up. Fortunately for those of us who don’t appreciate the burn of hot peppers, there are plants that make a non-burning version of capsaicin called dihydrocapsiate (DCT), which could have the benefits of hot peppers without the burn.
In a study designed to test the weight-loss potential of this DCT-containing, non-spicy cousin of hot peppers, researchers at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition set out to document its ability to increase heat production in human subjects consuming a weight-loss diet. Under the direction of David Heber, Professor of Medicine and Public Health, researchers recruited 34 men and women who were willing to consume a very low-calorie liquid meal replacement product for 28 days. The researchers then randomized the subjects to take either placebo pills or supplements containing the non-burning DCT pepper analog.
Two dosage levels of DCT were tested. At the beginning and end of the study, body weight and body fat were assessed, and the researchers determined energy expenditure (heat production) in each subject after he or she consumed one serving of the test meal.
The data confirmed that, at least for several hours after the test meal was consumed, energy expenditure increased significantly in the group consuming the highest amount of DCT — almost double that of the placebo group. This suggests that eating this pepper-derived substance can have the same benefit as eating hot peppers by increasing food-induced heat production. DCT also significantly increased fat oxidation, pushing the body to use more fat as fuel. This may help people lose weight when they consume a low-calorie diet by increasing metabolism.
One limitation to this study was that the researchers tested the effect of DCT on the thermic response to a single type of meal. Heber and colleagues were quoted as saying there might also be a different effect in lean vs. obese subjects.
The bottom line: don’t be afraid to pile on the peppers.
Source: Presented at the Experimental Biology meeting, Anaheim, CA. April 27, 2010