International Hot and Spicy Food Day

When you drink something hot, your body responds by causing you to sweat to cool you down. A similar reaction happens when you eat something spicy. Even if it isn’t hot in terms of temperature, our bodies will still react with sweat. Hot and spicy food has been traced back to recipes that are as old as 6,000 years!

Capsaicin, an active component of chili peppers, is known to destroy cancer cells. A 2015 U.S. and China study found that eating spicy food six or seven days a week lowered mortality rates by 14%.

Hot and spicy foods are stimulants. They stimulate the circulation and raise body temperature. If you eat spicy food in a hot climate, it actually cools your body down - it reduces the difference between your body temperature and the surrounding air and it makes you sweat, which cools the body when the perspiration evaporates. Spicy foods are also believed to stimulate the appetite by setting off the production of saliva and gastric juices, a nutritionally important effect for people in tropical areas where the high temperatures act to reduce the appetite.