Capsaicin in weightloss

Chilli peppers contain substances such as capsaicin (the compound which gives peppers their hot sharp taste), dihydrocapsaicin and nordihydro-capsaicin. These are responsible for the burning sensation in your mouth when you eat chilli pepper. This happens because the substances attach themselves to the TRPV1 receptor. And because they interact with this receptor, pepper extracts also increase the body's fat burning. They do this so effectively that a number of reviews have already pointed to these components as promising ingredients for anti-obesity supplements and functional foods. And they also have some added health advantages.

Replace hours of sweating in the gym with a teaspoon chili flakes on your meal and you automatically eat less. Capsaicin (the substance that causes the sharp hot flavor of peppers), curbs hunger feelings and is at the same time energizing. Especially if you're not normally chili-eater, chances are that you have less need for fatty, salty and sweet foods.

Many people however cannot stand the burning sensation that eating chilli peppers causes. For this reason Japanese researchers have been studying the slimming effects of a different group of compounds in peppers: the capsinoids. Substances such as capsiate, dihydrocapsiate and nordihydrocapsiate do not react with the TRPV1 receptor in the mouth, but do so further along in the stomach and intestines.

Fat Burning

Chilli, also known as red pepper chili is a good fat burner. This comes from capsaicin in the pepper which incidentally has more health benefits. The use of capsaicin over a period of 8 days was found to reduce the accumulation of fat cells by 62%. Also fatty acid decreased significantly. This effect occurred in fat cells that are present throughout life. Newer accumulations this effect did not occur.

Yo-yo effect

Besides boosting fat burning capsaicin also prevents the yo-yo effect. Four in ten women suffer from this. It is a difference in energy balance, which causes the yo-yo effect. While losing weight on a diet, less energy is burned and the body is using energy more efficiently. When someone does go back on a normal diet and eat more, the body is still programmed to burn less energy. Therefor the kilos (of fat) pack on again. This can be prevented by capsaicin.

A number of test subjects was examined four times 36 hours in a so-called respiration chamber, a fully equipped space where various measurements can be carried out. Such as monitoring energy consumption and fat burning.

They were faced during this four sessions with different diets: a normal diet and a diet pattern with just three-quarters of the normal energy value. In both cases, also the addition of about one gram of red pepper (one-half teaspoon) per meal was tested, equal to about two and a half milligrams of capsaicin.

What happened? The addition of chilli pepper to the diet ensured that the difference in the energy consumption with a normal diet (with no red pepper) was reduced. This leaves, while dieting, energy use virtually on its original level. When someone would go back to their normal eating patterns the yo-yo effect is thus slowed down. Also in those subjects the fat burning increased. Adding one gram of red pepper per meal during a diet can therefore give an extra boost to weight loss. Acute Effects of Capsaicin on Energy Expenditure and Fat Oxidation in Negative Energy Balance P. Janssens et all 2013

How relevant is the use of red chillies or food supplements in changing body composition?

The application can be associated with the presence of the capsaicinoid amides of which capsaicin is the best known and most important representative, in addition to dihydrocapsaicin and nordihydrocapsaicin. The same components are also responsible for the sharp / hot flavor.

It is the increased thermogenesis induced by these compounds, which is the most important factor in the treatment of obesity with capsicum compounds. This is in addition to the adrenergic effect on lipolysis in the muscle tissue. It has been demonstrated that a reduced caloric intake (dieting) results in a reduced metabolic activity at rest, and thus reduced calorie consumption (and a decreased weight loss). Increased thermogenesis would compensate this. From some of the older studies one can conclude that the effects observed with the use of capsaicin or capsinoids indicate an increased basal metabolism and fat oxidation.The sharp / hot taste of peppers is reducible to the chemical structure of the components. They possess a vanilloid-portion (capsaicin is the vanillamide of 8-methylnon-6-enoic acid) and hence exhibit a marked affinity for the vanilloid receptors, more specifically for the TRPV1 receptor. These are located in the oral cavity and are thus responsible for perception of heat.

In addition, these receptors, however, are also present in other organs, including the intestines. Binding of TRPV1 by capsaicin induces a sympathetic activity, resulting in activation of the β3-adrenergic receptor in the "brown adipose tissues." This results in increased thermogenesis (binding of the β3-adrenergic receptor in the mitochondria-rich brown fat cells leads via the G protein cascade - cAMP - protein kinase to an increase in lipase activity. This results in increase in free fatty acids, resulting in a decoupling of the oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria with the ultimate result of heat instead of ATP formation).

Capsaicinoids and Caspiates

Sometimes the capsaicinoids are needed, by example to produce pepper-spray , food spices, heat plasters or hot muscle massage creams. For ingestion researchers are still busy to find the ideal analogue to fight obesity. Of the capsaicinoids, there are six common ones; capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin, homocapsaicin, homo-dihydrocapsaicin, and nonivamide. When looking at the main mechanism of action for capsaicinoids (TRPV1 channel activation), nonivamide and capsaicin are the most potent analogues with dihydrocapsaicin following in potency.

Similar to Curcumin (of the curcuminoids) and Berberine (of the protoberberine alkaloids), capsaicin is the most well-known molecule in a particular collection of molecules known as capsaicinoids. It is found mostly in peppers, and due to this the molecule itself is sometimes referred to as Hot Pepper Extract

There is another subset of molecules that are somewhat similar to capsaicinoids, and are native to sweet peppers (CH-19 Sweet, a cultivar of Capsicum annuum with low pungency); these are caspiate based compounds such as caspiate, dihydrocaspiate, and nordihydrocaspiate. Despite not having the same sensory properties, caspiate also appears to elevate body heat and suppress fat gain and oral ingestion of CH-19 or isolated capsinoids in humans has also resulted in the similar increase in oxygen consumption (indicative of an increase in metabolic rate).

Sweet pepper does not contain the classical capsaicinoids, but has similar compounds based off of caspiate; they appear to be somewhat bioequivalent.

Cardiovascular Health

One can conclude that the effects observed with the use of capsaicin or capsinoïden indicate an increased basal metabolism and fat oxidation. An interesting additional fact is that capsaicin appears to exert no influence on the cardiac depolarization-repolarization. The observed sympathetic activity can theoretically lead to an extension thereof which may be associated with an increased risk for heart failure in cardiac patients. But this proved not to be the case (KO Shin et al., 2007). Pepper components have many more health benefits one is that they reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

 Supplementation of 150mg capsaicin an hour prior to low intensity activity (as well as at rest) does not alter heart rate in otherwise healthy men.

It must also be noted that there are several products that consist of a combination of Citrus aurantium - synephrine (adrenergic effect) and / or caffeine. Taking the combined sympathetic effect into account, one should carefully check the needed dosage.

On a diet? Capsaicin keeps your testosterone level up

A low-calorie diet drives testosterone production down, a real nuisance for natural athletes who not only want to decimate their fat reserves but also maintain their lean body mass. Supplementing with capsaicin – and perhaps analogues too – may offer hope, according to a Turkish animal study.

Researchers at the University of Uludag in Turkey have been studying the effects of capsaicin on hormonal regulation for a number of years. The researchers discovered that chickens' sex organs develop faster if they are given capsaicin in their feed. This may be because the animals start to make more LH and FSH, the Turkish researchers discovered, but it may also be that there is a direct effect on the sexual organs. In mice it also seems that injections of 1 mg capsaicin per kg bodyweight stimulates the development of sperm.

Capsaicin attaches itself to VR1 receptors, which are located in the brain, but are also found in hormone producing cells in the testes. In the animal study the researchers test the theory that capsaicin sabotages the effect of the hormone ghrelin.

The stomach and the pancreas produce ghrelin if we eat little or nothing. Ghrelin is a 'hunger hormone', which is released in large quantities during a weight-loss diet. It stimulates the secretion of growth hormone through the growth hormone secretagogue receptors, but also inhibits the secretion of testosterone. This happens partially via a ghrelin receptor in the testes. The researchers wanted to know whether capsaicin could diminish ghrelin's inhibitory effect on testosterone.

They gave 40-day-old adolescent male mice and 75-day-old adult mice food consisting of 0.02 percent capsaicin. In the adult mice in particular capsaicin raised the concentration of testosterone in the blood, as you can see in the graph below on the right. The ghrelin concentration rose too, as shown below on the left.

But in the testosterone producing Leydig cells in the testes of the mice that had been given capsaicin the researchers found less ghrelin. Apparently capsaicin suppresses the uptake – and thus the effect – of ghrelin in those cells. 

So capsaicin may be a candidate for a testosterone booster during a slimming diet. The dosage may be a bit of a problem. According to our most conservative estimate, the human equivalent of the doses the researchers used would be several hundred milligrams per day. That's too high for a normal human. Luckily there are also capsaicin analogues which have fewer side effects, and which according to a Japanese study also interact with the same receptor. One is dihydrocapsiate. A second alternative might be evodiamine. This compound also interacts with the same receptor as capsaicin does.

Capsaicin, capsiate and evodiamine all help weight loss by the way, so they're also interesting if you're following a weight-loss diet.

No calorie reduction with chillies

According to current research, you do not have to cut down on calories if you partake capsaicin. Researchers from the University of Wyoming showed during a meeting in Baltimore how capsaicin stimulates thermogenesis and burnt energy by activating receptors that are expressed in brown and white fat cells (brown and white fat). This helps to master and prevent obesity. Hypertension and cardiovascular disease where also reduced.

Thermogenesis and fat brown

Thermogenesis is an important factor in weight control and obesity. Brown fat has the ability to produce heat (thermogenesis). If the calorie intake is too high, brown fat converts it into heat, with the aim to burn fat. Brown fat which is active, allows for less storage of white fat. Overweight and obese people and people gaining weight quickly, possess less active brown fat. Thyroid hormones stimulate thermogenesis also. For a healthy weight, it is therefore important to keep the metabolism going.

V. Krishnan of the University of Wymoming's School of Pharmacy says: "Obesity is the result of an imbalance between caloric intake and energy usage. White fat cells store excess energy and brown fat cells serve as thermogenic machines to burn the stored fat. Consuming a high calorie diet and a lack of exercise creates imbalance in metabolism, leading to obesity. "

In developing a strategy against obesity, the researchers discovered that capsaicin reduces the effects of a high-fat diet. Capsaicin is a selective agonist for the ‘transient receptor potential vanilloid 1-receptor’ (TRPV1). 0:01% capsaicin in the total diet appears to reduce weight gain in mice who ate high-fat food. Capsaicin did not changed the food and water-intake, despite the fact that it stimulated the metabolism properly.

Severe colds, migraine, headaches, chronic sinusitis? Chillies offers the solution!

If your head is almost bursting apart from colds, consider the possibility of cayenne and chili! The capsaicin in the peppers offer relief; mucus becomes thinner and can be discharged. Capsaicin dampens the nerves, which issues pain signals to the brains and releases endorphins. Endorphins give a euphoric feeling. Capsaicin is used for medicines and creams that reduce pain. There are also derivatives (compounds) made of this substance called capsaicinoids. These cancer fighting substances are used among other things to make heat patches. It reduces pain and swelling. It is also nice that the nose opens again. Sore throat, you can take a bit of Tabasco. Chillies are full of vitamin C. One pepper contains as much C as an orange. Not only does capsaicin relieves colds, soothes the pain in general, it can also be used for migraine, chronic sinusitis and allergies.

Capsaicin in supplements.

The purpose of the researchers is to develop a natural dietary supplement to defeat obesity.