Hot sauce, some people love it and some people can’t stand the stuff. But it seems that there are more benefits for indulging in the spicy sauce other than just using it to flavour your food.
1. If you’re happy and you know it, take some hot sauce
Inside the majority of spicy foods and sauces are compounds called capsaicinoids, it’s these that send signals to your brain telling it that your body is mimicking being burned – even though no physical heat is present and it’s very clear in reality there is no fear of that.
But in response to this, the brain releases a surge of endorphins – one of which is dopamine – these act as a pain reliever and often trick you into feeling a surge of happiness.
2. The next best medicine
Maybe don’t favour hot sauce over any prescribed medicines, however, it has been proven that hot sauce can act as an anti-inflammatory for some ailments.
Similarly to how hot sauce brings you a moment of happiness, the capsaicinoids also have the power to relieve pain from almost any part of the body; in fact, it’s been proven to be so effective that doctors use properties of capsaicin (one of the compounds found in capsaicinoids) to help with toothaches, skin pain, and even arthritis.
3. See you later, Weight Watchers
Some of you may have heard (and even tried) the hot sauce diet, but for those of you who don’t know the ingredients in hot sauce help speed up your metabolism – which is how you burn calories faster.
Alongside this, hot sauce can also act as an appetite suppressant, this is based on the theory that the hotter the sauce is, the more uncomfortable you will become which, theoretically, should result in your hunger being decreased due to the antoidies found in the sauce.
4. High blood pressure be gone!
Along with releasing endorphins, dopamine, and other beneficial chemicals in your body, hot sauce also contains neuropeptide Y.
For those of you who aren’t sure what that means, neuropeptide Y is a 36 amino-acid neuropeptide that has been proven to reduce the blood pressure of those who ingest it.
5. The key to immortality
A study from the University of Vermont has concluded that peppers and hot sauce can help you live longer, so while it may not be the Fountain of Youth, perhaps it could give you a few extra years.
But how can hot sauce help you live longer?
Well, obviously, it has clear health benefits. But it has been recorded that the peppers in hot sauce also improve circulation and cardiovascular health – people have also argued that this may be part of the reason that people in countries like India and Mexico (where spicy meals are the norm), people are less like to struggle from typical health problems.