Chilli peppers, to some an indispensable part of a good meal, to others the cause of a mouth burn you can’t wash away with mere water. But did you know it could help you to lose weight? And better than that, there is a less “painful” version that seems to have the same effect.
Published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, slightly overweight male volunteers were given a glucose water with or without the addition of nonivamide (a capsaicinoid found in chilli peppers but less “spicy” than the main capsaicinoids capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin) and then allowed to eat as much as they wanted for breakfast.
It was found that the men given the nonivamide considered themselves to be less hungry than the group given just the placebo and went on to eat less. They also had higher levels of glucagon-like peptide-1 and serotonin which make you feel full and decrease your appetite.
Although less spicy than capsaicin it is still spicy and in fact used in the food industry to give a hotness to sweets. I’m a lover of spicy food but not sure if I could stomach it as a prelude to my morning bowl of cereal….Perhaps I should just buy myself a small bowl and giant corn flakes.
The paper is available from the Molecular Nutrition and Food Research website.