It has been commented on occasion that certain foods can help with the loss of body fat. Some of these foods have been green leafy foods, which have been sold as having a negative kcal effect, that is, you use more energy to metabolize them than the energy they provide you. Obviously, this is not true.
Another kind of food has been peppers, cayenne, chili… which are foods that have a component called capsaicin.
From about 7500 B.C. C., chili peppers belonging to the species Capsicum annum they have been part of the human diet in South, Central, and North America. The plants were domesticated between 5200 and 3400 BC. C. in the US and used as a food preservative in Mexico.
In the US, consumption of all bell peppers has increased from an average of 15.3 pounds per person in 2005 to 19.1 pounds per person in 2012, with bell pepper consumption increasing from 9.2 pounds to 11.7 pounds, while chili consumption grew from 6.1 pounds to 7.4 pounds.
What are capsaicinoids
Capsaicinoids are the main naturally occurring and spicy active compounds in chili peppers. Available information indicates that these molecules have a wide variety of biological and physiological activities, including neuropathic pain, inflammation, reduction of oxidative stress, diabetic neuropathy, psoriasis, cardioprotective, arthritis and cancer.
Capsaicinoids may have potential benefits in weight loss, lipolysis, and stimulate thermogenesis and energy burning by activating receptors. These receptors include white and brown fat cells.
What foods have capsaicinoids
Capsaicin is the most famous capsaicinoid of all. So famous that to measure how much itchy (or even painful) each food that is eaten, the Scoville scale is used, although it is true that the method is very inaccurate.
This scale is summarized in the quantification of how much capsaicin the food has through the dilution of its amount of capsaicin until you no longer feel that it has that molecule.
Some of the foods that can be consumed without having a bad time are the following:
- Banana pepper (100-500 units)
- Chile anaheim (500-1,000 units)
- Poblano chili (1,000-1,500 units)
- Jalapeño pepper and Padrón pepper (2,500-5,000 units)
- Some types of chipotle, cayenne and tabasco peppers (30,000-50,000 units)
What information do we have about the consumption of capsaicinoids and fat loss
There have been some studies like this in which, although they were not given food, they were offered a certain amount of capsaicinoids as a supplement that is readily available through the diet.
Subjects were evaluated for body fat and body fat mass percentage at baseline and immediately after a 12-week treatment period. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive placebo (cornstarch), 2-mg dose of capsaicinoids, or 4-mg dose of capsaicinoids.
The results obtained were that those who consumed higher amounts of capsaicinoids lost more body fat than those who consumed less capsaicinoids and, of course, what they did not consume.
One of the causes that really caused a greater loss of fat was a lower appetite, so the more these substances they consumed, the less they used to eat on average.
Why eat this type of food?
In addition to seeing that you can lose body fat by its anorexigenic effect (reduced appetite), helps improve metabolism and hormonal function, diabetes, and reduces insulin and leptin resistance. They have also been linked to improved cardiovascular health, endothelial function and stimulate energy expenditure.
Therefore, not only because it seems to help fat loss, but because It can also give us a plus to health, we should include this type of food in our diet.
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