Chili Pepper Ingredient Capsaicin Fights Fat

heybales

Who is willing to test this on themselves?

I pretend to like hot stuff, but not really that hot.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/pr901175w

These data demonstrate that thermogenesis and lipid metabolism related proteins were markedly altered upon capsaicin treatment in WAT, suggesting that capsaicin may be a useful phytochemical for attenuation of obesity.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100602121202.htm

ScienceDaily (June 2, 2010) — Scientists are reporting new evidence that 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. Their study, 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.