[CH] Hot News Regarding Your Blood Sugar
Buffalo Sue (bflosue@earthlink.net)
Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:09:54 -0500
This article was part of a newsletter I receive.
Sue
Hot News Regarding Your Blood Sugar
Want a healthful meal? How about a nice hearty bowl of chili? According
to an important new study from Australia, chili may actually help
improve health by affecting the hormone insulin that controls blood sugar.
According to Madeleine J. Ball, MD, one of the researchers from the
study, both some small animal and human studies have indicated that
consumption of meals containing chili peppers or chili seasoning might
increase both calorie burning and fat burning. What the researchers
wanted to find out was whether the consumption of chili also affects
insulin levels after a meal.
As it turns out, it does. "The subjects had similar blood sugar levels
after eating the bland meals and the chili containing meals," Dr. Ball
told me, "but their insulin levels were different." Why does this
matter? Because chronically high levels of insulin can be a risk factor
for metabolic syndrome, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. "Chili is
probably having some effect on the ability of the body to clear -- or
remove -- insulin from the bloodstream," Dr. Ball said.
The chili preparation used in the study consisted of 30 grams a day of
freshly chopped chili blend, a commercially available chutney that
consisted of 55% cayenne chili plus a few other ingredients -- such as
water and sugar. Dr. Ball believes that capsaicin was responsible for
the effect -- the compound responsible for the heat or pungency in chili
peppers. Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in the chemical pepper
spray. While it's responsible for the burning heat you feel when you eat
a really hot chili pepper, it also has significant health benefits. "We
suspect it has significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
properties," Dr. Ball told me, which could also be important in reducing
atherosclerosis.
Though blood sugar went up about the same in all test subjects
regardless of whether they were fed chili containing meals or bland
meals, those with the chili containing meals had less insulin in their
bloodstream on post-eating measures. The implication? The chili lowered
the insulin-induced cortisol response to the meal, which promoted a more
stable blood sugar level. Interestingly, the results were more
pronounced in those with a higher BMI (body mass index).
More studies will no doubt come on capsaicin. In the meantime, the
weather is getting cooler, so go ahead and enjoy that chili.
<>Be well,
Carole Jackson
Bottom Line's Daily Health News
<>Source:
Hot News Regarding Your Blood Sugar
Madeleine J. Ball, MD, is professor and head of the School of Human Life
Sciences, University of Tasmania, Australia.