Some of the hottest countries are the ones that have the most pleasure for the spicy. It has all the meaning of the world

The spicy is not considered a taste of use but it is a key element in many gastronomies. You can draw attention to the fact that some of the countries with the greatest love of The spicy are among the warmer countries in the world, something contraintuitive if we attend to the main effect of this seasoning has a lot to do with The heat. There are various types of spicy but we refer to a concrete one, The spicy food scorching containing capsaicin. Capsaicin is a molecule that occurs naturally in some plants of the genre Capsicumthe plants that give us all the variety of peppers, chillies, chiles or ñoras, although these fruits not always contain perceptible concentrations of this compound. It is often considered that plants of this genre synthesize this compound as a defense mechanism to protect their fruits and with them their seeds. However today the human being cultivates different varieties of plants in order to control the Capsaicin concentrations And, with this, control the degree of itching that causes the fruit. Very often this is done in order not to reduce the presence of the molecule but to create even more spicy varieties. Exist Many hypotheses about why the fond of spicy and spices in certain countries closest to the tropics, although there are no scientific arguments that support any specific. For example, the idea that these condiments are used to avoid the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms is practically discarded. What we do know is that, under certain conditions, the spicy can help us reduce the temperature, by contradictory that seems. Capsaicin works activating nerve receptors in charge of letting us know for the sensation of burned. In other words, this compound deceives us by making us think that we are abrasing ourselves. In that deception is the great utility of spicy foods With high temperatures: the sensation of heat can make us break to sweat when we eat the spicy, which makes it easier for our body to expel part of the heat that is accumulating. Something similar we can experience When we drink a hot drink when the thermometers indicate an increase in temperatures. Of course, there is a “but”. Sweat is mostly water that transports part of our body heat outside our skin. Once there this water evaporates, taking the heat. But not always: in high humidity conditions, sweat takes to evaporate, which implies that the spicy or hot drinks only work when we do not exceed certain levels of humidity in the environment. It should also be remembered that sweat makes us lose water, so replenishing it is indispensable. The food, an ally It is not necessary to resort to spicy if what we want is to feed and face the high temperatures. Some meals they can help us reduce heat In our body and, above all, they can help us stay hydrated, something fundamental when heat squeezes. In this sense, fruits can be especially useful. Fruits such as watermelon and melon can give us a significant amount of water when we consume them, but also do vegetables such as tomato, cucumber and lettuce. Hot drinks can help us in some contexts but in general avoiding very hot food can be a good idea, especially if we have to cook at home, since this will imply that we will be generating residual heat in our own home, heat that can take time to fade if we do not ventilate with property. The spicy, hot drinks and fresh fruit can be ways to maintain our thermal comfort in extreme circumstances but a heat wave requires that we take different measures to ensure our physical well -being and thus not take a scare. Avoid high insolation hours or those in which the temperature reaches peaks, looking for the shadow, keeping us hydrated, and Avoid demanding activities On physical level as exercise are also precautions to take on days like those we are living during this heat wave. In Xataka | Popular wisdom is not always right: the great myths of heat that we should avoid in summer Image | Qurratul Ayin Sadia / Alvin

Eating slowly is an old trick to satisfy us before. Now some researchers have an idea to make it easier: spicy

The spicy is a culinary element that is indifferent. It is not considered a flavor like sweet or acid, what molecules such as capsaicin do is “deceive” our sense of touch and make it think that we are burning ourselves. An evolutionary mechanism to prevent us from eating the fruit of some plants. More spicy, less calories? Now a team of researchers He has discovered A new potential in the spicy, to help us ingest less calories. The team observed in its study that the ardor feeling made the participants consume less food and with it, less calories. The key may be in something that we already know about previous studies: eating more slowly makes us eat less. What I would do The spicy It would be to eat slower, which in turn would increase the feeling of satiety and indirectly, causing us to eat less. “We know for previous studies that when people (eat) more slowly, they eat significantly less,” pointed in a press release Paige Cunningham, co -author of the study. “We suspected that making a more spicy meal could stop people. We think, we are going to try, in controlled laboratory conditions, if a small amount of spicy (…) will make people eat more slowly and therefore eat less.” Sweet, or spicy paprika. In his study, the team carried out three experiments in which a total of 130 people participated. The team prepared different versions of the same dish (more or less spicy) altering the proportion between sweet and spicy paprika in order to keep the taste altering only the spicy. “Science is proof and error. I prepared a recipe, and I saw how far the spicy could take, then we tried it,” Cunningham explained. The team recorded the participants during the food to monitor their behavior when eating. They checked how how much food they consumed, but also the water they drank, the duration of the food, speed, rhythm of chewing, etc. It is not water, that time. They could see that the participants ate less and that they did it more slowly, something that can explain as a mediating cause in the relationship. The team was able to contrast this with an alternative hypothesis, the possibility that they ate less because they drank more water and that is why they were filled before. This turned out to be the case. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Food Quality and Preference. It is not always easy. According to the team itself, previous studies have revealed that various food properties, such as texture and even food shape can have similar effects. Even A recent study Performed by the same team indicated that something similar happens when we burn with a food too hot. Introducing auditory patterns can also help. A Recent study He pointed out that there are different factors, for example gender, which affect the speed with which we eat our food. The same study indicated that there are also external factors, such as rhythmic patterns, which can make us eat faster or more slowly. In Xataka | We have been studying chocolate and tea compounds for more than 75 years. Now we know that they help control blood pressure Image | Qurratul Ayin Sadia

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