Hete pepers en kurkuma voor een lang leven.*

De verschillende hete pepers bevatten capsaïcine, een krachtige bioactieve stof en kurkuma bevat de krachtige bioactieve stof curcumine. Van beide stoffen is reeds langer bekend dat ze goed zijn bij allerlei aandoeningen van hoofdpijnen tot kanker en ze helpen zelfs bij het afvallen. Uit nieuw onderzoeken blijkt nu dat ze ook effectief zijn in de bestrijding van het slechte cholesterol (LDL). Capsaïcine en curcumine, deze laatste iets minder, bestrijden de vrije radicalen in de bloedvaten waardoor tot wel 45% minder oxidatie kan plaatsvinden van het LDL en dat is duidelijk beter voor hart en bloedvaten.

Hot n' Healthy: Upping the Spice for longer life?

Spicy salsa satisfies some people, while making others run for water. But as the saying goes, you are what you eat; and those who eat spicy food get a dose of some special compounds that may affect the risk of heart disease.

Spicy peppers contain capsaicin, a potent chemical that makes eaters around the world sweat and in more concentrated forms makes criminals cringe from pepper spray. The fiery effects of capsaicin and its relative curcumin, from the spice turmeric, are well known. These spices have been covered before on chemistry.org (see Capsaicin Chemistry is Hot, Hot, Hot!). They have been thought to help everything from cancer to headaches to assisting in weight loss, but spicy compounds may also be great for your heart and blood.

Several recent studies have focused on the antioxidant effects of capsaicin and curcumin in the circulatory system, and in particular on the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). LDL is considered the “bad” type of cholesterol because it can enter the endothelium lining of blood vessels. The presence of free radicals in the endothelium regulates the oxidation of LDL. If conditions are right, LDL can be oxidized and contribute coronary artery disease.

A new study by Madeleine Ball and colleagues at the University of Tasmania (J. Agric. Food Chem.; 2006; 54(17); 6436-6439) examines the effect of capsaicin, curcumin, and dihydrocapsaicin (an analogue of capsaicin) on the oxidation of LDL in human blood. Previous studies found that these compounds inhibited oxidation of LDL in simple solutions, but left open the question of any effect in the complex environment of real blood.

To test the potent pepper products on LDL in blood, Ball and her colleagues added varying concentrations of capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, and curcumin to diluted serum from three men and three women. Copper was then added to provide source of oxidation; and as oxidation took place, the absorbance of UV light increased, allowing the performance of each sample to be measured. The performance was measured as lag time, that is the amount of time that the samples were resistant to oxidation and also by measuring the rate of oxidation.

As in other studies, the compounds delayed the onset of LDL oxidation and reduced the total amount of oxidation. Concentrations of just 0.1 μM resulted in lag times that were significantly longer than in the control sample, and concentrations of 0.5 to 0.7 μM increased the lag time by 50 %. The rate of oxidation was lower for all concentrations, and concentrations of 0.7 μM reduced for capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin 42 % and 45 %, respectively. Curcumin required higher concentration than either capsaicin or dihydrocapsaicin to achieve a significant oxidation rate reduction. A previous study  found that lesser amounts of capsaicin than dihydrocapsaicin were required to achieve the same decrease in oxidation (Indian J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 1992, 36, 273-275). Here, the researchers found that capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin provided very similar degrees of oxidation protection.

The authors also recently reported that 30 g/day of a chili blend (containing 33 mg of capsaicin) over 4 weeks, reduced the rates of copper-induced oxidation in serum of volunteers (Br. J. Nutr. 2006, 96, 239-242 ).

The two studies show that capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, and curcumin are antioxidants in real blood, and their effects increase at increased concentration. So, when you eat spicy food, you could be cutting your risk of heart disease.

But then again all the goodness in chilies may not make up for a deep-fried chimichanga. Better top it with more jalapenos.

(Okt. 2006)  

 

 

 

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