[CH] Science says "yes" on capsaicin!!
Bosley_J (Bosley_J@BLS.GOV)
Mon, 2 Mar 1998 16:34:24 -0500
There's an article in today's Washington Post about research intended to
show that the main reason people put spices in food is to kill bacteria.
The URL (and I'll try to get it right this time!) is:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-03/02/076l-030298-idx.h
tml
If that don't work just go to the basic home page
(www.washingtonpost.com), go to "Today's Paper" and the link at the
bottom "Rest of Section A." The Post always runs a couple of science
articles on Monday morning--usually kind of interesting.
In this article, while onions and garlic scored the highest kill rates
(100% of 30 unnamed species of bacteria), capsaicin came in at over 80%
which ain't bad. These authors do make a kind of nasty speculation about
people preferring spicy food when they eat out, because they don't want
to take chances that the food is more bacterial than their own at home.
I certainly hope that Brother Rael doesn't take that to heart, as every
posting of his that I've seen about his culinary habits as a sous-chef
make clear that he's pretty darn careful about using and serving fresh
healthy *HOT* food!! On the other hand, I'd love to read a Rael rant on
the topic--doubtless would be worth sending to the Editors of the Post!!
:-)
John
John Bosley--Research Psychologist
Office of Survey Methods Research
Bureau of Labor Statistics
phone 202-606-7514
fax 202-606-7426