The Healing Power of Hot Peppers

I considered my father the healthiest man walking the face of the earth, indestructible, fearless and in possession of a multitude of skills. He was a builder, a gardener, friendly to all he met and a fisherman. He loved nothing better than to share his catch of fish, caught in Lake Erie, with his family, friends, and neighbors. He did the same with the vegetables he grew and the fruit he picked from his own fruit trees.

He ate well, loved fish, vegetables and fruit, but he was especially fond of hot peppers. He would laugh with delight as he watched us try to down a hot pepper, then run for a glass of water and bread. He didn’t flinch as he ate red hot cherry peppers. It must have had something to do with his Polish ethnicity. The Italian side of my family didn’t ever indulge in eating hot peppers. Now, as I research the foods that give us all these nutrients, that make healthy cells, what pops up as one of the king pins in the link to good healthy foods? Hot peppers were his favorite snack food. My father would eat anything his heart desired and this heart-healthy food was his medicine, for he didn’t believe in doctors and he didn’t like pills.

Even if you don’t like fiery-hot foods, you should spice up your food with some chilies - I do. Capsaicin, the extract that is the main ingredient in the hottest hot sauces on the shelves today, is so full of good stuff, it’s no wonder someone bottled it.

Capsaicin is an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. (No wonder dad never ached - even when fishing on Lake Erie on the frozen ice in the wee hours of the morning and in his 70s.) It is chock-ful of vitamins and beta-carotene. Hot peppers contain calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, thiamine (B ), riboflavin (B ) niacin (B ). They contain more vitamin C than oranges, and they lose only about a third of that after cooking.

In 1982, a study found that chilies thin the blood and lower blood pressure. They also—hold on to you fajita—lower the blood level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), the cause of arteriosclerosis. And unlike so many anti-cholesterol agents, they act on the bad cholesterol without affecting the good variety (HDL).

Better yet, a 1986 study published by the American Institute of Nutrition demonstrated that capsaicin reduces the amount of stored fat (triglycerides) in blood cells and reduces blood triglyceride levels.

You’d think that chilies would harm the lining of the stomach, but, in fact the opposite is true. A 1995 medical study at the National University Hospital in Singapore found that orally administered capsaicin has a gastroprotective effect when followed by 600 milligrams of aspirin.

This increased intestinal activity may aid digestion by increasing circulation, allowing food to be processed and absorbed more efficiently. Dad didn’t have any degrees, but instinctive, innovative and self-confident, he went way beyond all that we are just discovering to be true. Mostly, he loved life and sharing his abundance of vegetables, fish and fruit with others.