John Myers
Chilies are known to taste hot – and it is precisely this hot substance called capsaicin that is extremely healthy. Studies show that capsaicin can protect the liver from damage. The progression of existing liver problems could also be stopped with the help of capsaicin. So if you want to do something good for your liver, regularly include chilies or cayenne pepper in your diet or take capsaicin as a dietary supplement.
Capsaicin – A gift for the liver
Capsaicin is the pungent substance in chili peppers. Capsaicin has at least eight top effects on our health.
We have summarized the seven known so far below for you. Number eight was only presented by the European Association for the Study of the Liver at the International Liver Congress 2015 in Vienna at the end of April.
A new study had shown that daily consumption of capsaicin can have highly beneficial effects on liver health.
Capsaicin improves liver values
In our main text about capsaicin, we already reported on a study from 2010 in which all symptoms of the so-called metabolic syndrome improved after taking capsaicin. High blood sugar levels fell, as did insulin levels, cellular glucose tolerance improved, and obesity was reduced.
At the same time, the liver values of the overweight subjects, all of whom had previously suffered from fatty liver, recovered.
At the International Liver Congress 2015 in Vienna, it was reported that capsaicin can reduce the activities of the so-called hepatic stellate cells.
Capsaicin in liver fibrosis
Hepatic stellate cells are specialized cells in the blood vessel walls of the liver. For example, they store vitamin A and regulate blood flow.
If the liver is damaged (e.g. by drinking a lot of alcohol, by fatty liver, by medication, or by an infection), then the hepatic stellate cells form substances that cause scarring of the liver tissue.
Such progressive scarring of the liver is called liver fibrosis.
Liver fibrosis is feared because it can lead to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Unfortunately, liver fibrosis is not particularly rare. It is estimated that 10 percent of the population is affected.
At the Vienna Congress, it was now explained how capsaicin could bring relief here.
Capsaicin protects the liver from liver-toxic substances
If capsaicin was administered, the liver damage caused by substances toxic to the liver was far less than was the case without capsaicin. Capsaicin also halted the progression of toxic liver damage.
Existing liver fibrosis could not be reduced by capsaicin, but it could at least stop it from spreading.
In the case of liver damage, capsaicin can therefore very well be included in the therapy – of course after consultation with the (ideally practicing holistic) doctor or naturopath.
Seven other health benefits of capsaicin include the following:
- Capsaicin and its effects
- Capsaicin helps you lose weight because it increases energy expenditure, fuels fat burning, and also suppresses appetite.
- Capsaicin is a valuable companion in diabetes because it lowers the fasting blood sugar level and insulin level and also reduces the insulin resistance of the cells.
- Capsaicin counteracts chronic inflammatory diseases because it can lower the levels of typical inflammatory messengers and thus has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Capsaicin stimulates blood circulation and can therefore u. be helpful in erectile dysfunction.
- Capsaicin improves blood quality by lowering the cholesterol level (especially the levels of the particularly harmful oxidized cholesterol) and regulating the flow properties of the blood, i.e. “diluting” the blood (if it was previously too “thick”) and can thus prevent thrombosis.
- Despite its sharpness, capsaicin protects the stomach from irritating substances. In one study, for example, capsaicin was able to noticeably reduce the stomach-damaging effect of aspirin. Capsaicin can even speed up the healing of stomach ulcers and, according to studies, works even better when given alone than in combination with the medications usually prescribed for stomach ulcers.
- Capsaicin activates the suicide program of various cancer cells and as a result, can be incorporated into complementary therapy in many types of cancer, e.g. B. in prostate cancer, breast cancer, and even in difficult-to-treat bronchial carcinoma and pancreatic cancer.
