Benefits & uses

Suffering while you eat might sound like masochism, but spice has a solid list of proven benefits. We are science people, so here are the ones that genuinely hold up, plus a couple of chile uses that have nothing to do with cooking.

What spice does (for good) to your body

Several studies link a higher intake of spicy food with a lower cardiovascular risk: a relationship has been observed with higher levels of HDL cholesterol (the «good» kind) and with lower blood pressure. On top of that, capsaicin stimulates the appetite, gets the circulation going and has an anti-inflammatory effect.

And it is not all about capsaicin: red chiles are one of the spices richest in vitamin C and in carotenoids (provitamin A). That pairing helps look after your mucous membranes, gums and eyesight.

It is no miracle potion, but as vices go it has far better scientific press than most.

Uses beyond the plate

Capsaicin’s power gets put to work well beyond the kitchen:

• Topical painkiller: in creams and patches for joint and nerve pain. It works as a counterirritant: through «heat», it gradually desensitises the pain receptors.
• Self-defence: pepper spray is nothing more than concentrated capsaicin (oleoresin capsicum). The same compound that livens up your tacos can stop an attacker in their tracks.
• Crop protection: capsaicin is a cheap, effective natural repellent.

Keeping elephants away with chile? In parts of Africa and India, farmers put up «chile fences» and burn bricks of dung mixed with chilli: elephants find the heat so off-putting that they simply turn around. Crop defence that harms no one.

So next time someone gives you a funny look for sweating over your plate, you have your arguments ready: what you are doing is practically therapeutic.