If you're someone whose taste buds tingle for spicy food, you might be in luck. Hot sauce does far more than just make your tongue tingle and forehead sweat. There’s evidence that food with a kick can help you lose weight, boost heart health and aid your gastrointestinal system.
Patricia Bridget Lane, a registered dietitian/nutritionist, notes that “Spicy food is a hot topic in nutrition - no pun intended.” Let’s delve into how hot-and-spicy dishes can benefit your health.
Does Spicy Food Help You Lose Weight?
That habanero salsa definitely makes your mouth burn. Could it burn calories, too? It sounds strange, but it’s not that far-fetched. Research shows that people who eat more spicy foods are less likely to have a BMI > 30 (have obesity) or a BMI > 25 (have overweight).
Increasing your spice intake could help with weight loss in a couple of different ways:
Boost Your Metabolism
Much of the research on spicy foods focuses on capsaicin, the compound that gives chile peppers their kick. Some of that research has found that capsaicin boosts the body’s ability to break down fat and burn more energy.
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Lane says that “It seems to rev up the body’s fat-burning mechanisms,” and that “That can help with weight loss and weight management.”
Control Your Appetite
Chiles and other spices might also affect your hunger. “There’s some research that capsaicin acts on the hypothalamus - the part of the brain that controls hunger and fullness,” Lane says. So you may feel full sooner if you add some heat to your meal.
She adds that “People who eat a diet rich in spicy foods tend to eat less food overall throughout the day."
Other Health Benefits of Spicy Foods
Dousing your dinner in hot sauce may have benefits besides weight management:
Improve Heart Health
By helping break down the fats in foods, spices may boost heart health. Some studies have shown that fiery fare may reduce the risk of diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes.
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A study from the University of Vermont found that people who regularly ate chile peppers had a 13% lower likelihood of death. The researchers found that these culinary fire eaters were less likely to die of cardiovascular causes like heart attacks and stroke.
Boost the Microbiome
Fiery foods might sound like a bad idea for someone with a sensitive stomach. But there’s evidence that capsaicin might actually be good for the microbiome in your gut.
The microbiome is a community of bacteria and other microbes that are important for immune function and other aspects of health. “Capsaicin can stimulate a healthy gut flora and have a positive effect on the gastrointestinal tract,” Lane says.
Reduce Inflammation
Hot-and-spicy dishes might also reduce inflammation. There’s evidence that capsaicin can help combat low-grade inflammation in the gut - a type of inflammation that has been linked to obesity.
Capsaicin’s inflammation-fighting powers extend beyond the belly, too. Over-the-counter capsaicin cream can help treat pain ranging from arthritis and fibromyalgia.
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Spicing Up a Healthy Diet
Before you start buying hot sauce in bulk, Lane offers a few caveats. Even the hottest chile peppers can’t undo the damage from a poor diet heavy on sugar, processed foods and saturated fats.
She says that “While spicy foods might have benefits, it’s more important to consider your overall diet.”
In other words, adding spice to a veggie stir fry is a great idea. Ordering an extra side of deep-fried buffalo chicken wings? Maybe not. “If you aren’t eating a healthy, balanced diet, spicy foods alone won’t rev up your metabolism or lower your cholesterol,” she says.
And not all spice is created equal, she points out. Whole chile peppers and dried chile powder are great pantry staples. But many hot sauces and packaged seasonings are high in salt or other ingredients that you should only consume in moderation. Salt contributes to high blood pressure, so read nutrition labels before you get saucy.
How to Spice Up Your Life
If you’re not used to spicy foods, start slow. “If you aren’t used to a lot of spice, don’t start with habanero peppers,” Lane suggests.
Overdoing it can make your mouth burn - and may cause diarrhea. There’s no need to shoot for the world’s hottest chile. “You don’t necessarily need a lot of spice to reap the benefits,” says Lane.
But if the world’s hottest pepper sounds intriguing to you, here’s some good news: If you keep eating spicy foods, it’s likely your heat tolerance will increase over time.
The Magic of Capsaicin
If you love the kick of hot sauce, you’re not alone. When you’re eating spicy foods as part of a healthy diet, the answer is mostly yes. The magic behind all hot sauces lies in one compound: capsaicin. It’s the natural chemical found in chili peppers (like habanero peppers or cayenne) that sets your mouth on fire and gets your heart rate up. The hotter the peppers, the more intense the burn. Capsaicin binds to pain receptors in your tongue and sends a signal to your body that feels like heat, which is why even a small amount of spice can light you up.
When it comes to Scoville Heat Units (SHU), mild sauces use peppers like jalapeños (around 2,500-8,000 SHU). Super spicy foods, however, feature beasts like the infamous ghost pepper.
Typically, you’ll find a simple mix: peppers, vinegar, salt, and spices. Some hot sauces include fruits for a burst of flavor, such as our Pineapple-Mango Habanero hot sauce. Hot sauces with pineapple blends are crowd favorites because they mix heat and sweetness.
A teaspoon of most hot sauces has only a few calories, almost no fat, low sugar, and around 60-200mg of sodium. So, eating spicy foods can be exciting without blowing your calorie budget. If you’re watching your weight, that’s a win! But not all sauces are created equal. Many hot sauces on the market sneak in too much salt or sugar.
Health benefits of capsaicin
Here’s where the science gets interesting. Capsaicin brings the heat, but it also has benefits. Early research shows that spicy food can improve heart health and reduce the risk of heart disease or heart attacks. When scientists tested prostate cancer cells, they found capsaicin inhibited their growth and left healthy cells alone. Same with other cancer cells in similar tests. Meanwhile, observational studies show people who eat more spicy food have better heart health and fewer chronic illnesses.
If you’re trying to lose weight, adding a bit of hot sauce to your meals can help. Capsaicin gives your metabolism a boost, increases energy expenditure, and helps your body burn calories slightly faster. It also controls hunger, so you feel full sooner and might eat less overall.
People who eat spicy food regularly have better heart health. Capsaicin is believed to relax blood vessels, which improves circulation and lowers blood pressure over time.
One of the biggest benefits of eating spicy food is its anti-inflammatory properties. Capsaicin is a natural anti-inflammatory compound that reduces inflammation in your body, especially in the joints. That’s why it’s used in creams for arthritis or stomach pain.
Hot sauce made from fresh peppers is packed with vitamin C and other vitamins that boost your immune function. Together with capsaicin, these nutrients protect your healthy cells from oxidative stress.
Some small studies show that spicy peppers may protect your liver from inflammation and fatty buildup, and support your digestive system. The anti-inflammatory compounds help the gut move food along smoothly and stop bad bacteria from growing.
Precautions
Hot sauce has many benefits, but it’s not for everyone.
- IBS or Sensitive Digestive System: Some people can’t handle too much heat.
- Ulcers: Contrary to old myths, spicy foods don’t cause ulcers. Most are caused by bacteria or certain medicines. If you love the burn, start small, maybe a teaspoon of sauce per meal, and see how your body reacts.
If you want flavor and heat without the junk, Elijah’s Xtreme is where you should start. These sauces balance taste, real ingredients, and pure spicy peppers’ firepower.
Some studies say people who eat more spicy foods might live longer. It won’t cause ulcers, but could irritate one temporarily. Use a teaspoon per meal to get the benefits without overloading on salt.
So, is hot sauce good for you? For the most part, yes. Just have them in moderation, avoid super salty ones, and choose hot sauces with natural ingredients, flavor, and heat.
The Hot Sauce Diet: Fact or Fiction?
To understand how and why people still ask this question, it’s important to understand how the hot sauce diet was brought up in the first place.
Some signs point to the pamphlet “The Hot Sauce Diet” by Spiro B. Antoniades, a doctor who was trying to figure out how to lose weight quickly after finding out he had diabetes. His 76-page book documenting his journey was published in 2006 and spurred lots of questions. As one unimpressed reviewer wrote: “Basically, just put hot sauce on everything. Get it hot enough and you will not eat as much. Duh!
In Antoniades case, yes. The way he got there was putting hot sauce in tomato juice and guzzling it down, along with a lot of water to cool the burn, filling his stomach enough to sate his hunger at that moment. He also laced his soup with hot sauce, then timed himself to make sure he would not consume the soup in under 10 minutes.
That being the case, was hot sauce some magical vitamin-filled liquid that trimmed off the fat? Not by itself. There was also a lot of will-power and standard dieting that took place as well. It was used more as a response to a trigger of hunger than anything else.
The general answer here is yes. Hot sauce and peppers can definitely help you on your weight loss journey, but they are not going to get rid of your gut overnight.
Hot Sauce and Weight Loss: The Science
For a quick answer, yes, hot sauce does help with weight loss. BUT, it depends.
It’s important to know that different types of hot sauce are created with various ingredients, making it difficult to make generalizations about their effects on weight loss. However, studies do show that some sauces can help boost metabolism and have other positive effects on the body. For example, Capsaicinoids, the compounds found in chiles which give them their spicy flavor, have been linked to improved digestion and better weight management. By activating certain receptors in the body, they can help boost metabolic rate and fat oxidation, which could potentially lead to greater weight loss.
Hot sauce although can help boost your metabolism and weight loss, it is not a fat burner. Hot sauces may also provide a number of other health benefits beyond just aiding in weight loss. Studies suggest that consuming capsaicinoids along with other chile-based compounds can aid in reducing inflammation (which is often associated with unhealthy diets), improving gut health by increasing beneficial bacteria populations within the microbiome, improving cardiovascular health (due to its antioxidant content), increasing energy levels, decreasing blood sugar levels after meals, and even providing protection against some forms of cancer due to its anti-tumor properties!
All things considered, incorporating hot sauce into your diet may indeed provide some potential benefit in terms of managing your weight, but only if consumed in moderation.
Scientific Studies
In a study published by Physiology & Behavior showed that overweight people who consumed spicy foods burned more calories compared to those who didn't.
In 2017, a study provided data that explained capsaicin plays a crucial role in human health and provided many benefits specifically for metabolic health and weight loss in obese people.
In another study, capsaicin was shown to help increased sensations of being full of energy and decreased the desire for eating.
In two studies published by the National Library of Medicine, capsaicin is shown to increase your metabolism, boost your fat burning, and decrease your overall appetite. Study one. Study two.
These are just a couple of studies showing how hot sauce can help with your diet and weight loss.
The History of Hot Sauce
The history of Hot Sauce and its place in popular diets and weight loss have been intertwined for centuries. Hot sauce has become more than just a condiment; it is associated with many ethnic cuisines, used as an ingredient in many recipes, and is even seen as a health food.