JE PILI PILI INASAIDIA KUPUNGUZA UZITO WAKO??

“Want to lose weight? Eat lots and lots of pepper” This is the pro bono advice you will receive from friends. Apparently, being a regular consumer of pepper will help weight watchers as well as those who want to lose, according to some quarters. But are you being misled? According to the British Journal of Nutrition, a string of recent studies by researchers at Canada’s Laval University suggest that a key chemical contained in pepper (chilies) could boost the body’s ability to burn fat and curb appetite too.

Chili-based spices The researchers take notice of the fact that eating hot foods such as curries and Mexican chilies induces some amount of warmth in the body almost instantly. Through a process the scientists call diet-induced thermogenesis, calories consumed are acted upon almost immediately rather than being stored. This process is stimulated by capsaicin, the chemical that gives pepper and chili-based spices such as cayenne and paprika their characteristic pungency. The science of hot peppers centers on chemical compounds called capsaicinoids. The hotter the pepper the higher their concentration. The Canadian researchers also found that pepper can actually help reduce appetite. They reported that when men and women eat chili-spiked food, they feel less hungry and eat significantly less at subsequent meals.

They further found that pepper boosts the amount of fat – rather than carbohydrate – that is burned in the process. This far, science adduces that there is truth in pepper aiding weight loss. However, Dr Shadrack Kahindi, a medical doctor at Angelic Mission Hospital on Mbagathi road, disagrees that pepper aids with weight loss, saying: “When you eat pepper, you are likely to end up with an acidic stomach because pepper contains a lot of acids. How this translates into weight loss is not clear neither is it well documented in nutritional or medical books. It might be speculated to be working but as far as weight loss goes, there are assured ways supported by science.” So, be careful as a high pepper ride might boost your metabolism, but it is no magic bullet to achieve desired weight.