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)