Spicy Food Can Be Beneficial for Weight Loss

Spicing up meals with seasonings and low-carbohydrate sweeteners can discourage dieters from eating excessive amounts of food. Flavouring your dishes will make you feel fuller and thus lower your calorie intake, suggests a new U.S. study that has found that boosting taste with spices may be a revolutionary way to promote a rapid loss of weight.

A weight-reducing ability of spices and flavouring, also known as “tastants” for their ability to stimulate taste buds, has been studied during a trial that involved 2,436 overweight volunteers who wished to shed excess pounds. The subjects were asked to add a variety of spices and calorie-free flavourings to their diet. The dieters spiced up their meals with savoury and sweet crystals without added salt or sugar, which contained flavours of cheese, taco, malt, garlic, cocoa, onion, spearmint, spices, horseradish, and strawberry.

A control group of participants used dietary crystalls without tastants. Both groups ate their usual diet and did not increase their habitual level of physical activity.

At the beginning of the trial, both groups of volunteers had an average body mass index of 34, which indicated their obese status. An average participant had a weight of 210 pounds. After staying on a program for half-a-year, the people of the treatment group lost more than 30 pounds each, decreasing their BMI by approximately five points. In the control group, the observed weight loss was only two pounds and the BMI of the controls remained almost the same.

These revolutionary findings were reported at a scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Francisco. The researchers suggested that a significant loss of weight observed in the group treated with spices and flavouring may have been caused by the tastants’ ability to reduce excessive hunger. Another explanation was that spicy food adds flavour to otherwise bland-tasting foods, such as vegetables or soy, thus promoting healthier dietary choices.

Dr. Alan Hirsh, who represents the Chicago-based Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, commented on the results of the research that overweight and obese people can greatly benefit from adding spices and flavouring to their menu. By pleasing their taste buds and improving the sensations of taste and smell, dieters can facilitate the process of rapid weight loss.

Although the tastants they were used during the research are not readily available on the market, adding low-calorie herbs, hot peppers, aromatic flavouring and other substances that enhance the taste and aroma of healthy foods can be the most pleasurable and satisfying way of losing weight.

Various types of pepper can be particularly helpful to promote successful weight loss. A pepper’s major ingredient, piperine, possesses strong anti-inflammatory qualities. It also promotes effective digestion, reduces bloating and flatulence and stimulates the body to produce more heat, thus facilitating the breakdown of fat cells. In addition, pepper helps assimilate important nutrients that we ingest with food.

The vast range of exotic flavours contained in peppercorns and other aromatic spices and herbs is sure to not only make your dining experience more satisfying, but also add punch to your metabolism and ensure successful shedding of unwanted pounds.

Tim Ford