Blood Sugar And Spice (Diabetes)

Science News ^ | 8-12-2006 | Ben Harder

[blam]

Week of Aug. 12, 2006; Vol. 170, No. 7 , p. 109

Blood sugar and spice

Ben Harder

Eating cayenne pepper with meals may mitigate a hormonal response that's linked to diabetes, a trial of two diets suggests.

To compare the effects on insulin of different patterns of chili pepper consumption, researchers at the University of Tasmania in Launceston, Australia, conducted a study in 36 healthy adults who didn't typically eat chili peppers. Excess insulin production can presage diabetes.

For 4 weeks of the study, each volunteer ate his or her usual bland diet, except for one chili-laden meal at the end of the period. For another 4 weeks, each person ate 30 grams per day of a condiment that was 55 percent cayenne pepper.

At three points—once during the bland diet, once during the spicy diet, and once at the transition—researchers took blood samples from the volunteers. The scientists measured concentrations of insulin and other substances in the samples.

In metabolizing their meals, the study participants produced about one-third less insulin while they were on a spicy diet than on a bland diet. A stand-alone spicy meal had an intermediate effect on insulin, Madeleine Ball and her colleagues report in the July American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Obese volunteers benefited the most, the study revealed.

If you have a comment on this article that you would like considered for publication in Science News, send it to editors@sciencenews.org. Please include your name and location.

[Gabz]

You've got that right.

Over the years I have intentionally planted some sweets in with the hots just for friends that only like a little heat.

I can see this thread devolving into the merits of various kinds of chile peppers..........LOL!!!

I try to experiment with at least 4 or 5 new types each year..........but the one I will not grow is tabasco, just can't for some reason abide the taste of those peppers.

[Gabz]

The body acclimates to the burn, somehow.

You've got that right. I learned that years back while working part-time in a Thai restaurant. Within about 3 weeks after I stopped working there I could no longer handle the heat that I had been able to while eating there nearly daily.

[Gabz]

LOL!!!

Fancy finding you on a spicy food thread. Particular one that is often paired with cilantro!!! LOL!!!

[RegulatorCountry]

I enjoy Thai, but still have to be careful with some of theirs. It's different, somehow. The usual bread and butter antidote doesn't kill an "overdose" as well as it does with the peppers I'm more accustomed to eating.

[Gabz]

The Thai have a different remedy. Put about a teaspoon of salt in your mouth and just hold it there for as long as you can, then spit it out and rinse (repeat if necessary). The salt pulls the saliva, which pulls the burn out. Whatever you do, don't swallow.......

It does work, believe me - I've used it on more than one occassion.

[xsmommy]

my niece is diabetic and i know HD is interested in diabetes too. not focused on the peppers but i like spicy food, just not cilantro.

[RegulatorCountry]

I'll have to remember that. I'm having lunch at Rearn Thai tomorrow. Nice to have an "out" if I overdo it, but that's sure to get a few strange looks, lol.

[Gabz]

LOL!! Was just funnin' with ya, that's all.

[Gabz]

While eating out, I suggest doing it in the restroom :)

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Thai chiles are great! I like to take the dried ones, put a handful in a wok with some oil, and stir fry them until they turn black. Chop 'em up and use in everything! A delightful smokey, peppery taste with a nice level of heat. Don
t breathe the smoke comin' outa the wok though. You die coughing, unable to take another breath!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

but i like spicy food, just not cilantro.

It tastes like soap.

[Et seq]

I believe the medical name for BBS is Jaloproctosis.

[Gabz]

Don t breathe the smoke comin' outa the wok though. You die coughing, unable to take another breath!

That's pretty much true for any hot peppers. I've had to go around openning doors and windows in the dead of winter on more than one occassion because the oil was too hot when I put the peppers in, and filled the house with that kind of smoke.

[jwparkerjr]

Same thing happens when you little purebred toy poodle gets loose and encounters the neighborhood scruffy male dog!

[cherry]

IIRC, diabetes in Hispanics is pretty conmon

[mhx]

Sugar-free ice cream.

[pollyannaish]

LOL. I have personal experience with that.

[Gabz]

OMG.............LOL!!!!!!!

[Cap Huff]

"You die coughing, unable to take another breath!"

That happened to me once when I was living in Thailand. My cook threw in the peppers and I started coughing with each breath. I was in the middle of a Thai language lesson, and the teacher and I were both coughing and laughing at the same time. It was a weird experience.

I've grown my own prik kee nuu peppers for some time, but I've recently tried to grow a "wild" birdseye pepper. Out of 15 seeds only one germinated, and the plant is just now beginning to set fruit. I can't wait to try them when they are fully ripe. I understand them to be even hotter than the Thai peppers.

[IslandJeff]

Excess insulin production can presage diabetes

Not to belabor this too much, but this is only true in Type 2 and Gestational.

As a Type I, I'd eat peppers 365 if they would help stimulate insulin production.

Still, I think Type II could be wiped out in less than a generation: there's just so much money to be made.