Spicy Food and Alzheimer's Disease - Alzheimer's 14

Spicy food

Chili pepper is the most common used for flavoring in many cuisine in the worldwide. It is about three quarters of population in this word using any kind of chili.

There are more than 200 chemical compounds in the pepper, including capsaicin.

Capsaicin is the component that has responsible for “spicy” taste. The more capsaicin compound in the chili, so the chili will be spicier .

Beside to give extra flavors, there are many studies about benefit capsaicin of the chili peppers:

- relieve abdominal pain or gastrointestinal pain.

- increase saliva

- reduce or eliminate bloating

- relieve cold

- weight loss

- relieve joint pain

- effective anticancer agent.

The last research,  capsaicin is able to prevent neurogenerative disease such as Alzheimer's disease.

Chili flavor

In fact, there is Qutenza (Capsaicin 8% patch). It is a prescription medicine used for the management of nerve pain after shingle in adult patient, or to relief from post-shingles nerve pain.

Qutenza is synthetic capsaicin equivalent to the nature.

Salonpas pain patch with Capsaicin is very popular among us. It is used for temporary relief of muscle. This patch is also to reduce joint pain caused by strains, sprains, bruising, backaches, or arthritis.

Considering all of benefit of capsacin in chili pepper, years ago I always went to Whole Market for my lunch. Sometimes, I had Shrimp Thai Basil Soup or Chicken Noodle Soup.

I like to sit at the bar with other customers to enjoy hot meal. When we were sitting and enjoying the spicy meals, we had talked everything about chili peppers and their benefits.

On the counter, many kind of chili sauces for adding in to our meals such as sriracha, kinds of tabasco (mild, hot, and extra hot), spicy mayonnaise, and mixed of chili peppers.

We also can ask slices fresh jalapeno to the employee in the behind of the counter.

Then, there is such a warning!

Yes, in another side, the researchers from University of South Australia found out that a spicy diet could be linked to dementia.

A study had been conducted for 15 year, and for 4582 Chinese adults in China with age over 55 year-old. They found that “who consume more than 50 grams chili in a day, they had almost double the risk of memory decline and poor cognition” (Dr Zumin Shi).

And it's more significant for the thinner persons or lower mass index. Thus, proper amount is good, but bad for consume in great amount of chili every day.

Do you like to consume chili peppers? How often?