Hot Hot Hot

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Oh, yeah. My husband is going to love reading the results of this study: that an ingredient in chili pepper may fight fat. John's favorite chili recipe consists of nothing but beef steak ("cut into pieces the size of yer little toe" - actual quote from his recipe), beef broth, salt, pepper, and heaps of chili powder. Cooked forever until the beef falls apart, and served with a dollop of sour cream.

It's an acquired taste.

So he will be interested to hear that capsaicin - found in chili peppers - has sparked the interest of researchers who theorize that this spicy ingredient assists in reducing body fat composition:

"Laboratory studies have hinted that capsaicin may help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue, and lowering fat levels in the blood. Nobody, however, knows exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects. In an effort to find out, the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats. "These changes provide valuable new molecular insights into the mechanism of the antiobesity effects of capsaicin," the scientists say."

You can read more about this study here.