Chili pepper

Studies in people

• Benefit

  Weight loss²

  In people, eating chili pepper helped with weight loss in studies lasting up to 12 weeks.

• Benefit

  Risk of dying³

  People who ate chili pepper often had a lower risk of dying from any cause, heart disease or cancer.

• Benefit

  Mouth burn from spicy food⁴

  In people, milk proteins lowered the mouth burn from chili pepper's capsaicin, and casein worked better than whey.

• Open question

  Aortic dissection risk⁷

  People with aortic dissection ate less spicy food and had less capsaicin in their blood than people at risk.

Animal and lab studies only

• Benefit

  Metabolic syndrome¹³

  In lab and animal studies, low-dose capsaicin from chili pepper improved insulin sensitivity and decreased body fat.

• Concern

  Gut inflammation and stature¹⁴

  In animal studies, a chili pepper-rich diet was linked to gut inflammation and signals tied to short stature in children.

• Benefit

  Gut bacteria health¹⁵

  In lab studies, chili pepper's capsaicin made gut bacteria more varied and raised butanoic acid levels.

Study type not stated

• Benefit

  Gut health¹¹

  Eating chili pepper in normal amounts may help the gut, though scientists are still studying how capsaicin works.

• Benefit

  Memory and thinking in Alzheimer's¹²

  In people, eating more chili pepper was linked to better thinking scores, and in mice it eased Alzheimer's-like memory problems.

How it’s made and used

• Exercise performance⁵

  In men, capsaicin before lifting let them move more weight and feel less tired.

• Running performance⁶

  In active men, capsaicin before a 1,500m run slightly improved times and made the effort feel easier.

• Mouth feel of food⁸

  In people, chili pepper's heat made it harder to tell how thick a soup was.

• Mouth burn while eating⁹

  In people eating chicken tikka masala, the burn from chili pepper's capsaicin rose then leveled off, while liking dropped.

• Brain response to spicy food¹⁰

  People who often eat spicy food found chili pepper more pleasant, and their brains responded differently than those who rarely ate it.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.