Regional Pungency Degree in China and Its Correlation with Typical Climate Factors

Abstract

Chili is an indispensable condiment in Chinese dishes. Due to regional environmental and cultural differences, there are certain differences in the regional food spicy degree. This study analyzed the pungency degree of dishes in 21 regions of China and created a pungency degree map using experiments and statistics. Seven typical climatic factors were selected, such as temperature and humidity, to analyze the most influential climatic factor on pungency degree through multiple regression methods. This study sampled 300 dishes of 12 cities in three typical provinces (Sichuan, Hubei, and Zhejiang) and found out the SHU (pungency degree in Scoville Heat Units) of dishes to supplement the study. The results suggest that Guizhou cuisine is the most pungent, where the proportion of dishes with chili is more than 50%. In the pungency degree map of the 21 Chinese regions, southwest China has cuisine that is strongly pungent, and the next pungent cuisine area includes the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Shanxi, and Ningxia. The cold area in northeast China, including Qinghai and Beijing, is the area of intermediate pungent cuisine. Central and eastern parts of China belong to the light pungent cuisine area. The field sampling of 12 cities also confirmed that the pungency degree of regions is Sichuan > Hubei > Zhejiang. The multiple regression analysis results suggest that the most influential climatic factor is the average sunshine duration which has negative correlation with pungency degree. Practical Application Environment correlative dietology is an emerging and important discipline in China. This research has helped us to enrich our data on chili dishes and expand our geo‐environmental food database. In terms of the flavor of the dishes, objective data were used instead of the former subjective comments for quantitative analysis. Since ancient times, there has been a traditional saying of spicy dehumidification and perspiration. This study uses mathematical statistical analysis methods to innovatively analyze the correlation between regional chili taste and geographical environment climate. These are all conducive to the establishment of scientific and healthy food flavor models.

Capsaicin consumption reduces brain amyloid-beta generation and attenuates Alzheimer’s disease-type pathology and cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice

“…Previous studies suggest that there is an interesting geographic overlap between AD incidence and spicy food consumption in China. The incidence of AD in west China (3.99/1000 person-years) is lower than that in the east (5.58/1000 person-years) 11 , and in the west, the proportion of dishes with chili is higher and the pungency degree is greater than in the east 12,13 . Previously, we reported that capsaicin-rich diet consumption was associated with better cognition and lower serum amyloid-β (Aβ) levels in people aged 40 years and over 14 .…”

Characteristics of spicy food consumption and its relation to lifestyle behaviours: results from 0.5 million adults

“…However, few studies have described the characteristics of spicy food consumption in a large population (Wang et al. 2019 ). More importantly, lack of comprehensive research on the relationship of spicy food consumption with health-related lifestyle behaviours, such as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, dietary habits, etc., impeded us to fully understand its contribution to major chronic diseases and their interactions with those lifestyle behaviours.…”

Spicy food consumption reduces the risk of ischaemic stroke: a prospective study

“…In this study, the proportion of people who ate spicy food 6-7 d/week was 33•26 % (15270/45908), lower than the proportion in Hunan Province (99•4 %, n 50 192) but higher than the proportion in Zhejiang Province (2•7 %, n 1276) (28) . The reasons may be due to the subtropical monsoon climate, which is rainy and humid and more suitable for spicy food (29) . For example, previous meta-analysis of four prospective cohort studies from the USA, Italy, Iran and China found that regular consumption (≥ 1 d/week) of spicy food was associated with a 12 % reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality and was negatively associated with the risk of death from ischaemic heart disease (30) .…”