Are you a fond of eating spicy food? A new study says that eating spicy foods is linked to having a longer life. The study, published in The British Medical Journal, claims that eating chili may reduce the risk of death as a result of a study on around half a million people.
The participants in the study were enrolled between 2004 and 2008 in a large Chinese health program, reports The New York Times. The researchers followed them for more than seven years and were able to record more than 20,000 deaths.
Based on the results, they found out that those eating chili peppers more than once or twice a week had reduced the overall risk for death by 10 percent. However, the more chili peppers they eat, the more reduced risk of death. In fact, consuming six to seven times a week of spicy food reduced the death risk by 14 percent.
"It has something to do with the beneficial effects of spicy foods basically from animal studies and very small sized human studies," says study author Lu Qi, associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Time reports that more research is needed to make the study conclusive and determine the causal effect of chili pepper to health and longevity. They also found out that the rates of ischemic heart disease, respiratory disease and cancers were lower in people who eat spicy foods than those who do not consume them at all.
However, Lu Qi reiterated that, "We need more evidence, especially from clinical trials, to further verify these findings and we are looking forward to seeing data from other populations."
