Hot peppers reduce blood pressure

People who like say hooked, they want more and more, but some people can not handle them. The extremely hot peppers, known as chiles, are present in many cultures and are responsible for giving the strong flavor, sometimes to the limit of pain, much of the world's hottest sauces, from Mexico to India.

The good news for fans is intense flavors that the peppers would be a good remedy for hypertension. Scientists already knew of its beneficial effect in the short term, following an acute ingestion. But now it has been found, by experiment with rats, which are also effective to relax blood vessels and control blood over time.

Capsaicin, one of the most abundant compounds in chili peppers, is the cause of your itching, a property that is believed to serve these varieties to avoid being eaten by herbivores.

A research team led by Zhiming Zhu of Third Military Medical University Chongqing (China), has discovered that capsaicin activates a channel of endothelial cells present in the interior of blood vessels, through which the power nitrogen monoxide production, a gaseous molecule that protects the arteries of inflammation and other disorders.

In the study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism , a group used genetically hypertensive rats and capsaicin were administered continuously for seven months. After that time, their vascular functions had improved and his blood pressure had dropped.

Although further research is needed to confirm this effect in humans, scientists now have some clues: hypertension in northeast China affects more than 20% of the population, while in the Southwest Asia where the diet is rich in hot peppers, the figure is between 10% and 14%.

"People in these regions like to eat hot and spicy with lots of chili peppers," says Zhu. "For example, a popular dish in my hometown, Chongqing, is the spicy pot". Apart from confirming these variables still missing chile determine the amount necessary to elicit a beneficial effect in humans.