Dietary capsaicin and its anti-obesity potency: from mechanism to clinical implications

Abstract

Obesity is a growing public health problem, which has now been considered as a pandemic non-communicable disease. However, the efficacy of several approaches for weight loss is limited and variable. Thus, alternative anti-obesity treatments are urgently warranted, which should be effective, safe, and widely available. Active compounds isolated from herbs are similar with the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which has a holistic approach that can target to several organs and tissues in the whole body. Capsaicin, a major active compound from chili peppers, has been clearly demonstrated for its numerous beneficial roles in health. In this review, we will focus on the less highlighted aspect, in particular how dietary chili peppers and capsaicin consumption reduce body weight and its potential mechanisms of its anti-obesity effects. With the widespread pandemic of overweight and obesity, the development of more strategies for the treatment of obesity is urgent. Therefore, a better understanding of the role and mechanism of dietary capsaicin consumption and metabolic health can provide critical implications for the early prevention and treatment of obesity.

Effects of cinnamon supplementation on body weight and composition in adults: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of controlled clinical trials

“…Lifestyle change including dietary interventions and physical activity is regarded as an inevitable part of obesity treatment strategies (Swift, Johannsen, Lavie, Earnest, & Church, ). Although reduced dietary energy intake is an important part of weight‐reducing diets, a number of studies have revealed that including functional foods like cinnamon, ginger, pepper, cumin, and garlic (Ebrahimzadeh Attari, Ostadrahimi, Asghari Jafarabadi, Mehralizadeh, & Mahluji, ; Gupta Jain, Puri, Misra, Gulati, & Mani, ; Szulinska et al, ; Zare, Heshmati, Fallahzadeh, & Nadjarzadeh, ; Zheng, Zheng, Feng, Zhang, & Xiao, ) in the diet might improve the weight reduction.…”

Thermal Degradation Kinetics of Capsaicin on Blanching-Brine-Calcium Pretreatment Red Chili Pepper Drying

“…It also is a major compound of capsaicinoids (alkaloid) that are widely applied in pharmaceutical and clinical product [7]. As one of the natural products, it was reported that capsaicin has therapeutic properties currently employed as antitumor [8], anti-mutagenic [9], antioxidant compounds [7], antimicrobial [3], anticancer [10], cardio-protection [11], antiobesity [12], anti-diabetic [13], and antiinflammatory effect [14].…”

A Critical Review on the Role of Food and Nutrition in the Energy Balance

“…Chili peppers are common food flavoring, which are also used as a traditional medicine in some cultures [150,151]. Chilis contain pungent capsaicinoids (capsaicin and dihydro-capsaicin), the major bioactive compounds responsible for the hot taste sensation, non-pungent capsaicin analogs, named capsinoids (e.g., capsiate, dihydro-capsiate and nordihydro-capsiate); and antioxidants, vitamins and carotenoids [150].…”