Chilli Peppers may Prevent Obesity Through Over-Eating

08 Sep 2015 --- Scientists have discovered a new benefit of the active component of chilli peppers, capsaicin. Usually when we have eaten enough, the stomach stretches. This stretching sends signals from the gut to the brain which indicate it is time to stop eating – otherwise known as satiety signals.

However, a typical western junk food diet, high in sugars and saturated or hydrogenated fats can disrupt these signals, making it impossible to stop eating even when we are supposedly full.

Capsaicin works in 2 ways to combat this; it suppresses appetite and regulates the satiety signals. Capsaicin locks into a receptor, which is a protein that detects the chemical and triggers the hot sensation when we eat it. The receptors in the gut do not need to sense heat, but they do something equally as important.  They help strengthen the signals to the brain that the stomach has stretched and is therefore full.

However, some people lack this signal routinely and therefore tend to over-eat. The researchers on this study tested the efficacy of capsaicin by comparing ordinary mice to mice which lacked capsaicin receptors. They fed one half of each set a normal diet and one half a high-fat diet. Whilst both sets of mice on the high fat diet gained weight, only the mice with capsaicin receptors responded to a capsaicin-like drug. Therefore the mice with no receptors failed to lose weight even after they were given the same pill.

Therefore it seems that eating chilli peppers may be an important first step in enhancing the satiety signals so crucial to weight loss or maintenance. This measure, alongside a healthy Mediterranean type diet with low saturated fats and sugar, could be important factors in the battle against obesity.