Losing weight is never easy, especially if you’ve battled obesity your entire life.
But a new discovery from the University of Wyoming could make the battle easier–and it’s as simple as visiting your grocery store’s spice section.
According to the findings, which were first reported at the Biophysical Society’s 59th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Md. on Sunday, researchers say mice that ate capsaicin, a compound found in chili peppers, prevented them from becoming obese, something researchers say could possibly help humans in the future.
Better yet, this compound even worked when they ate a high-fat diet.
“‘Spice up your diet to keep obesity away’ is our mantra,” says Baskaran Thyagarajan, Ph.D., author of the study and an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics and Neuroscience at the University of Wyoming’s School of Pharmacy. “The novelty here is having a reliable and natural dietary supplement to prevent obesity.”
The Study
It’s a myth that researchers have known for decades: Spicy foods could speed up the metabolism.
But is this true?
To find out, researchers decided to conduct their own experiment using lab mice. Here, Thyagarajan looked at mice who ate a diet high in fat and then examined what happened when these same mice ate foods containing capsaicin, a chemical found in chili peppers.
As it turned out, this compound triggered the body to turn white fat cells into brown fat cells–reducing the storage of fat cells while causing their metabolism to increase.
“In our body, white adipocytes store energy as fat and brown adipocytes expend energy by burning fat,” says Thyagarajan. “We have discovered a novel mechanism by which capsaicin-stimulated cellular signaling triggers the conversion of white to brown adipocytes, thus burning energy that would otherwise be stored as fat.”
While the evidence is convincing, however, other researchers caution not to take this findings seriously. One researcher points out that these findings were never attempted on humans, for instance, and until these findings are validated in humans, the evidence could be inaccurate.
The evidence also hasn’t considered capsaicin’s side effects, they say.
“Honestly, I’m not sure I would jump on the chili band wagon as a treatment for obesity,” says Keri Gans. R.D.N., a registered dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet. “The study in mice is promising, and I look forward to further research in humans, but adding chili powder to your bacon cheese burger and fries will still leave you with too many calories.”
The best advice? If you’re trying to lose weight, consider adding this to an already healthy diet. While it may be beneficial for the metabolism, it won’t stop you from gaining weight if you’re still eating a bad diet, note health experts.
Readers: What tricks have you used to reduce how much food you eat?
Sources:
The Next Big Diet Ingredient is Red Hot – Yahoo.com
What’s Next in Diets: Chili Peppers? (Press Release) – EurekAlert.org
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