Nutritionists explain if turmeric, chilli pepper and spices get any health benefits

Claims full ground say chilli, turmeric plus oda spices get health benefits and even di ability to "boost our immune system".

But spices fit really add any health benefits to our food, or e fit help prevent pipo from sickness?

Spices don dey part of our diets for thousands of years – na normal thing to sprinkle our chips wit pepper, drink ginger tea and add chillies to our meals.

But recently, spices don dey unofficially promoted from everyday cooking staples to superfoods wey get healing power.

Hillary Clinton bin reportedly eat one chilli pepper everyday during her campaign for US presidency for 2016, as attempt to prevent illness.

Turmeric, wey don dey in use for Asia for many decades, don find way enta coffee shops around di world in di form of "golden lattes" – and, during di pandemic, plenty viral messages bin claim say e fit "boost your immune system" plus protect pipo from getting sick. “E dey everywhere now,” according to one celebrity chef.

Meanwhile, cayenne pepper neva still recover since di ill-advised "Beyoncé diet" for 2013, wey suggest say consuming concoction of cayenne pepper, maple syrup, lemon and water fit make pesin lose weight.

But spices dey really add any health benefits to our food, or e dey help prevent sickness? And e get any one wey fit dey harmful to our body?

Di health benefits of chilli peppers

One of di most popular and widely used spices na chilli peppers. Many studies don examine dia potential effects on our health – and sabi pipo discover say e get both beneficial and adverse results.

Capsaicin na di main active ingredient inside chillies. Wen we chop chillies, capsaicin molecules go collabo wit di temperature receptors for our body, e go send signals to di brain to create di feeling of heat.

Some studies tok say capsaicin fit help pesin live longer.

One 2019 Italian study discover say pipo wey dey chop food wey get chilli pepper four times a week get lower risk of death compared to those wey no dey chop food wey get pepper.

And for 2015, researchers for China, wey torchlight how pipo take dey consume pepper plus di health of nearly 500,000 Chinese adults, discover say eating chillies dey associated wit lower risk of death.

Those wey chop spicy foods almost every day get 14% lower risk of death pass those wey dey chop spicy foods less dan once a week.

"Di major findings na say more intake of spicy foods result to a lower risk of mortality, particularly deaths wey dey happun sake of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases," researcher Lu Qi, professor of nutrition for Harvard school of public health tok.

Dis no mean say , eating large quantities of chilli peppers go protect pesin health – or protect pesin from respiratory illness – in di short-term.

E dey important to remember say China study bin follow pipo for a median time of seven years each. So even if chillies get protective effect on participants, di effect bin happun ova time – no be within weeks or months.

A number of studies don also say capsaicin fit increase di amount of energy we burn and fit reduce our appetites.

Zumin Shi, associate professor for Qatar University human nutrition department, discover say pipo wey dey chop chilli get lower risk of obesity and e dey beneficial for high blood pressure. So wen she study di effects of chilli pepper consumption on cognitive function, she bin expect a hat trick.

But wen she measure Chinese adults' cognitive function against dia chilli consumption, she discover say pipo wey dey chop more chillies get poorer cognitive function.

Dis one mean say pipo wey dia chilli intake dey above 50g (1.8oz) per day dey at risk of poor memory. E dey important to note say, self-reported data dey widely considered unreliable.

Di burning sensation wey pipo dey feel anytime dem chop for long don fascinate scientists. E also give us some insight into why chillies fit dey associated wit cognitive decline: di sensation na di result of plants wey dey try to protect themselves against diseases and pests.

"While many of di pigments and bitter flavours we dey enjoy for foods dey there to protect plants make insects for no chop dem, we don dey familiar to dis flavours’ toxicity levels – we fit deal wit a lot of dis plant compounds, including tannins for black tea, whereas some species no fit."

While some studies don produce encouraging findings, one 2022 analysis of 11 reviews conclude say di health effects of eating capsaicin and spicy food neva dey clear, and di evidence wey dey ground no dey "extremely high quality".

Di health benefits of turmeric

Another popular spice wey pipo reason say get beneficial effects on human health na turmeric. Dis dey widely attributed to curcumin. One small molecule wey dey inside turmeric. Dem dey commonly use am for alternative medicine to treat inflammation, stress plus many oda conditions.

Strong evidence to show say turmeric dey beneficial, no too dey.

Plenty studies don show say curcumin get anti-cancer effects for laboratory. But lab environment dey very different to di human body.

And researchers say im bioavailability dey too low to get any health benefits.

Dis fit be di case for oda spices, too – although, some researchers wey study di health benefits of supplements wey include higher doses of certain spices - find promising results.

For example, one 2023 study discover say taking ginger supplement everyday fit help control inflammation for pipo wit autoimmune diseases wey include lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Correlation verses causation

For di Western world, dis increasing interest in spices including turmeric as alternative medicine dey last seen for di Middle Ages, wen pipo den reason say spices get healing properties, Paul Freedman, professor of history at Yale University tok.

Chilli and turmeric don dey widely studied, but most trials only get compared data on consumption and different health outcomes, wey no separate cause from effect. And research dem do for laboratories no necessarily translate to di human body.

And as e dey true for so many nutritional studies, e dey difficult to tease out correlation versus causation.

Take di 2019 Italian study wey find say lower risk of death dey associated with chilli consumption. E dey observational, so e no dey possible to know weda eating chilli dey make pipo live longer, or if something else dey at work.

Research also find say adding spice mix to burgers fit lead to fewer free radicals forming for pesin body pass those wey dey chop burger without spices, and fit make di meat less carcinogenic. But these benefits fit dey explained simply by di preservative qualities of di spices, Mellor, wey no dey part of di study tok.

"Putting spices into meat na well-known technique to preserve meat," e tok. "Di benefits of spices, therefore, fit be more for food preservation, and make dem no get direct benefits to us. But either way, we fit benefit as e still dey make di food less harmful to us."

Many researchers believe say di health benefits of spices dey actually come from wetin we dey eat dem wit. For example, spices fit replace salt, Lipi Roy, clinical assistant professor for di NYU Langone Health medical centre for New York tok.

"Spices dey make food sweet and flavourful, and dem fit be healthier alternative to salt," she tok.