Once upon a time in science class we learned that heat is a product of energy. Think of a light bulb that’s been on for a while, or the expense of warming your house through cold winters.
Now scientists from UCLA are turning that relationship to your advantage: Hot peppers, they find, may help you lose weight.
The spicy ingredient in those peppers, capsaicin, raises your body temperature during meals. And since heat requires energy, they hypothesized that this would require you to burn calories.
Testing this on people found that pepper eaters did use more calories, and also burned more fat. The study was limited, so effects are not guaranteed. But if peppers please your palate, go ahead and spice things up! (Via The Los Angeles Times).
Photo by Pickled Stardust on Unsplash.