You have to love popular science reporting.  I found this title the other day that intrigued me:  “Reasonable Quantities of Red Pepper May Curb Appetite”.  Obviously, that would be an intriguing concept- especially, if you are a fan of red pepper.

But, when you find the actual journal article, it’s title begins to tell you that there was a little overreach in the media.  Dr. Mattes, the senior author of the paper from Purdue University, entitled the article (with Ph.D. candidate MJ Ludy) “The effects of hedonically acceptable red pepper doses on thermogenesis and appetite” for Physiology and Behavior.   There’s still hope, but…

It seems that eating red pepper is like eating celery.  There is a negative energy balance.  In the case of red pepper, this energy cost is a result of both metabolic and sensory inputs, but this affect is attenuated,  if one likes/is adjusted to eating spicy foods.  The sensory input requirement was a crucial finding, since many researchers had previously thought that the benefits of ingesting red pepper could be garnered by ingesting a capsule of the essence of red pepper (which is clearly not the fact, as this study demonstrated).

The study in question involved 25 graduate student aged subjects (23 + 0.5 y of age), all with lean physiques (BMI 22.6). They were about even divided between spice lovers and spice avoiders (13 and 12, respectively), and the study lasted six weeks.  The spice lovers preferred a dose of 18 g, while the spice avoiders chose 0.3 g.  For the purposes of this test, however, a uniform dose of 1 g was used (which is considerably lower than the previous studies that employed 10 g). (Note that 1 g is about ½ teaspoon of the spice.)   Those users who did NOT eat spicy foods did, indeed, have lower desires to consume fatty, salty, or sweet foods.  Moreover, their core temperatures increased and they did expend more energy than the pepper provided.  However, the study demonstrated that one becomes desensitized to the any potential effect of red pepper to decrease appetite and its negative energy balance (consumption of more calories than provided) is also attenuated.  This may explain why some of the previous research yielded varied results on appetite suppression and thermogenic (rise in core temperature) responses.

Ah, well, I guess we will have to use a real diet reduction and exercise regimen…

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