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Fighting Fat With Chili Peppers
Capsaicin, the stuff that gives chili peppers their kick, may cause weight loss and fight fat buildup by triggering certain beneficial protein changes in the body, according to a new study on the topic. The report, which could lead to new treatments for obesity, appears in ACS’ monthly Journal of Proteome Research.
Jong Won Yun and colleagues point out that obesity is a major public health threat worldwide, linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems. Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects.
In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats. “These changes provide valuable new molecular insights into the mechanism of the antiobesity effects of capsaicin,” the scientists say.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/195594.php
I don’t see evidence that they qualified that protein (muscle tissue) wasn’t also reduced, without buying the full text. Does anyone know whether other tissues besides fat (adipose) was reduced?
Thanks.
This herb seems to fit in with Robert C. Atkins approach to weight loss, heart disease, and diabetes approach to maximum health and well being.
Cayenne is a stimulant….It encourages rapid burning of carbs and sugars….Doh! Oh maybe we should complicate the issue by doing some waste of time study to determine what cutures have known for thousands of years….Science of dead minds would be better research….Anyone who has ever taken Cayenne knows it is a stimiulant….Stimulants burn energy folks!! Wow!!
A very good point Michael! I have been attaining Capsaicin as Cayenne Pepper in capsules and taking a couple with meals. I have not noticed any loss of muscle mass, while it does seem to help burn fat – but like you, I’d sure like to know what test results show – it’s not always that easy to tell just what’s going on. A side effect noted by many alternative health studies is that the Cayenne helps metabolize other supplemental nutrients, as well as other useful benefits.
the interesting thing about this is the fact that we know so little about the benefits of capsaicin… period. It is known that when taken in hot enough quantities it will not only stimulate the immune system it also removes cancer. This is from the medical journals… However, remember there is no money in chili/cayenne because anyone can grow their own. Like hemp and growing ones own food it is highly frowned upon to the point of legal issues…(what crap)
Meanwhile… I am always interested in how a rat or mouse has any relationship to human metabolism or similarity to human biochemistry.. Lab creatures are merely an excuse to gain grant money and do horrible things to the animals in the “name of science” (more crap)
Our opportunity is to spend more time with people who know about plants…period. From known herbalists to indigenous peoples… And to read books on the heart… for this is where indigenous peoples gained their knowledge of plants –directly from the plants themselves through the heart…. which by the way is infinitely more intelligent than the brain.
But this is all too outside of the box and will be ignored… with out “scientific” proof…
The science is all made up… recall that we really have not yet seen an atom…but some how we know all about them.
Like nanotechnology… (we can’t see them either) we know all about it… and we are assured that no harm can come from manipulating them and turning them loose in our world and bodies… Does this sound sane to you?
Really, lets make more drugs and then make more drugs for the side effects of those drugs… Oh well, not to worry we’ve got another drug to fix that side effect? Most adults (especially the elderly) are taking five to ten different drugs when in reality none of them are necessary… what is necessary is better food, exercise, and better information… Recall the study done for a group of elderly where their environment was taken back forty or more years and the biological markers within a week were turned back literally years …
I personally put up (freeze) over 100 lbs of quite hot green chili every year… it supports me in ways you cannot imagine… and move cancer… done it twice on my wife…with very hot cayenne.
Roll over big pharm, you aren’t needed anymore…. and haven’t for some time…recall that by the time we had streptomycin (1945) for tuberculosis only three percent of the population had it… what? Tuberculosis was taken out through public health… and further more since the coming to power of big pharms.. tuberculosis is back and stronger than ever. I even question penicillin… was penicillin a placebo?… really, think about this… When penicillin was relesed to the public following the Korean war we were in dire need of something new… and the prapaganda was keen on the effects of this new silver bullet… and sure we can all parrot the factoids that bacteria mutated. (Factoids… facts that have been made up). After all how many people did not have the experience of having an antibacteral (penicillin) prescribed for a viral infection…? Where is the “science” there??
Yes, I am sure peppers help one to lose weight. I have used cayenne pepper with a weight reduction diet and it worked very well.
However, hot peppers are not a magic bullet. The most important and the most sensible thing is to eat a proper diet that is balanced in nutrition and mainly to cut out the junk food which is the principle cause
of teenage obesity. This must also include exercise, and a good dose of common sense.
Just remember, “Good Health is not Rocket Science” it is a CHOICE !
It’s not a magic bullet, and won’t prevent the effects of insulin resistance from a diet high in carbohydrates. But it is one of many herbs that can help the right diet work. It’s not just junk food people; all carbs convert to sugar once digested, and excess sugar (if you are lucky) becomes stored fat. Wheras fat itself is more likely to be burned for fuel, because its metabolism is not dependent on insulin.
Low fat diets, low vitamin D from sunlight phobia, vitamin and mineral-deficient diets and supplement phobias, inadequate protein intake, inadequate polyphenol intake; these are the causes of obesity and diabetes. Laziness or lack of exercise is more a symptom than a cause – if your body is busy storing energy on a high-carb diet, then you won’t feel motivated to burn it; if your body is burning energy on a low-carb diet you won’t be able to sit still.
The same thing that causes obseity in some – high insulin levels – causes disease in others; some people can’t gain weight genetically, but high insulin from high carbs still promotes inflammation in them; headaches, joint pain, mood disorders, angina, chronic fatigue, any number of chronic degenerative diseases.
If you want to stay healthy, don’t eat grains (bread, pasta, cereals) or sugar, eat nuts and seeds instead, and don’t eat starchy veges like potatoes. Eat fruit instead of fruit juice, lots of leafy green veges, and as much meat, fish, chicken, eggs, beans, lentils as it takes (at least 1 gram of protein per Kg of body weight per day, and no more than 1 gram carbohydrate). Eat hard cheese and pure yoghurt but avoid milk and “milk solids”. Don’t worry about fat; avoid using vegetable oils other than olive oil, but use lots of EV olive oil and a tablespoon of cod liver oil every day. Take as many supplements as you need to feel healthy, and get a good intake of polyphenols from food, spices, herbs, teas, and supplements (at least 1-2 grams; some good sources are green and black tea, grape seed extract, turmeric, ginger, berries, coffee, red bush tea, EV olive oil, ginkgo, quercetin). Be guided by your moods – if you feel happy and energised, and in control of your choices, then you are healthy or getting healthier.