Nary a week goes by that we don’t hear something about the ongoing fight against obesity – one of the scourges of our modern lifestyle in the West – and it seems there are many factors that can trigger it. Now, we have proof that adding Chili Peppers to your diet may help you fight flab…
Why not grow Hot Peppers in a window box? They’ll be at hand every time you need a ‘hit’…
Researchers at the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy (WSP) have developed a new drug based on the stuff in Chili Peppers that makes them hot but which may also help your body burn Calories, rather than just store them away as fat.
Sounds too simple (and yummy) to be true? Maybe, but the evidence is strong in favour of the new pill called Metabocin, which is designed to slowly release capsaicin throughout the day so it can exert its anti-obesity effect without producing inflammation or adverse side effects. That’s the real breakthrough. So, just eating Chilis – even at every meal – won’t have the same effect as taking Metabocin. Another important finding of the WSP experiments is that ‘taking’ modified capsaicin results in long-term, sustainable weight loss.
The catch…
This new wonder drug to fight obesity has thus far only been tested on mice, in the lab. And the meticulous testing and approval process that all new drugs are subjected to could take another ten years to complete.
On the up side…
I’ve been looking at cultures whose trademark cuisines include Chili Peppers – some at all, or almost all meals – and they have populations that look a lot slimmer and healthier than your average North American or European group.
Yes, there are other differences between Eastern and Western dietary traditions that are probably contributing to the trimmer Eastern profile. For instance, Eastern cultures rely more, overall, on Grains and Veggies than they do on meats – especially Red Meats. They consume much less Dairy. They eat much more Fish and Seafood than we do. I could go on, but this comparison has been so thoroughly explored in multitudinous blog posts already that you probably know the nuances.
But…
What if adding Chili Peppers to our diets throughout the day – just a little at a time and adjacent to meals – did have beneficial effects on weight loss? Researchers say compounds found in Chilis have also been shown to reduce the risk of other major afflictions including heart disease and some cancers. How could a few Chilis not do some good?
What the world needs now is a new anytime snack consisting, perhaps, of Chili Chips, or Chili lozenges. The latter could even be configured to produce a nice Sweet/Hot effect (currently the rage in Foodie Town) on the taste buds. A supplement could even be designed that falls outside the definition of a drug, but brings the benefits of small, frequently-released ‘doses’ of capsaicin to your system without the irritation and inflammation that meal-sized amounts of the substance produce in some folks.
The truth is, there are many capsaicin supplements available, but ‘dosage’ recommendations and concentrations of the active ingredient vary widely. Further controlled experiments following along on the lines of the WSP experiments should help codify and quantify capsaicin’s effects.
We’ll just have to wait and see what evolves out of this first, essential finding in the Mice.
Meanwhile, I’m getting together the makings for a big pot of Chili so I can always have something warm and comforting – and healthy – on hand!
~ Maggie J.