What makes chillies addictive

The study also revealed a positive association between chilli intake and cognitive decline, which was stronger among those with a low BMI. On the flip side, many Chinese adults with obesity did not eat as much chilli or suffer such a decline in their memory. Although chilli is believed to have originated from South America , the spice is now used in cuisines all across the world from China to India and Spain to the USA.

Due to the widespread popularity of chilli, Dr Li expects the research results to hold true for all adults who eat a lot of the ingredient - not just Chinese adults.

Although the mechanism behind the association between chilli and cognitive function is not clear, Dr Li says one hypothesis relates to toxicity in the brain. The study observed an association and did not prove cause and effect.

More research is needed to understand the link between chilli intake and cognitive function. Chilli recipes from around the world Spanish-style garlic prawns gambas al ajillo Gambas al ajillo is one of the most popular tapas in Spain and it also is one of my favourites. It's so simple and so fast - pan-fried prawns with garlic and chilli. Chicken poached in a flavourful stock, served with rice boiled in a similar liquid: Hainanese chicken rice is one of Singapore's most iconic dishes.

This comforting recipe uses a chicken maryland and lots of chilli for spice. Chargrilled corn adds sweet crunch. Sign out. The Cook Up recipes. Korean at home. From the flicker of heat in pepperoncini to the incendiary burn of the Carolina Reaper, the chilli has conquered the world. These pungent pods are now the most widely grown spice crop of all. But, in recent years, the medical profession has become increasingly interested in the chemical ingredient of its trademark heat, with one recent study even suggesting the spice may also offer a way to help conquer the ravages of old age.

The chilli pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, a member of the nightshade family that includes tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants. The compound that makes them so spicy is known as capsaicin, a nitrogen-containing lipid related to the active principle in vanilla vanillin and has the same effect on our pain receptors as heat. The blowtorch effect of a Scotch Bonnet arises because pain-sensitive nerves in the mouth, notably the tongue, harbour a receptor protein known as TRPV1.

When this receptor is activated by capsaicin, it produces the sensation of scalding heat. Strictly speaking, however, chilli does not really taste hot. Our taste buds respond to salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami, while chilli offers the sensation of heat.

That's why, when exiting the body, capsaicin has a second opportunity to burn, even though there are no taste buds at its point of departure. While capsaicin might set our mouth on fire, it also leads blood vessels to relax, so it could help people with high blood pressure. Prolonged activation of TRPV1 on the membranes of pain and heat-sensing nerve cells also depletes substance P, one of the body's messenger chemicals.

Now a study by Andrew Dillin of the University of California, Berkeley, suggested this analgesic effect could have a yet more profound impact on humanity. But, of course, chilli offers another way to achieve the same end because constant activation of the TRPV1 receptor results in death of its host nerve cell, mimicking the loss of TRPV1 that extended lifespan. Eating a diet rich in capsaicin might, he says, "help prevent metabolic decline with age and lead to increased longevity in humans".

There are caveats, of course. Mice have enjoyed many advanced therapies that have not translated to people. And to enjoy the health benefits might require the kind of heroic chilli consumption that would daunt even the most hard core "heat geek".

By Leigh Dayton. Capsaicin is found in red peppers, chilli peppers and other members of the capsicum group. It causes a sensation of burning pain in the mouth by triggering the trigeminal nerve, which has branches in the eyes, nose, tongue and mouth.

In the mouth, the ends of these branches are sensitive to temperature and foreign substances such as capsaicin. Because capsaicin does not activate taste buds, it has no intrinsic flavour.

In order to find out why people willingly subject themselves to the pain of a spicy meal, Prescott and his colleagues at the CSIRO Sensory Research Centre in Sydney looked at how different amounts of capsaicin affected the flavour and intensity of solutions of sucrose and sodium chloride, which stimulate two of the four basic tastes, sweet and salt the others are sour and bitter.

The researchers gave 19 people a total of 32 solutions which contained different amounts of capsaicin and sucrose at either body temperature or room temperature.