Spicy food consumption is associated with adiposity measures among half a million Chinese people: the China Kadoorie Biobank study

Abstract

BackgroundFew animal experiments and volunteer-based intervention studies have showed a controversial effect of spicy foods on weight management; however, information is scant on the association between spicy food intake and obesity. This study aims to examine the impact of spicy food on quantitative adiposity measures in the Chinese population; a population with a low prevalence of general obesity, but a high prevalence of central obesity.MethodsA total of 434,556 adults (255,094 females), aged 30–79 years, were included from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study. Information on spicy food intake was obtained using a questionnaire survey. Body mass index (BMI), percentage body fat (BF%), waist circumference (WC), and WC/height ratio (WHtR) were analyzed as continuous variables.ResultsThe prevalence of daily spicy food eating was 30.4% in males and 30.0% in females, with dramatically geographic diversity (ranging from 99.4% in Hunan to 2.7% in Zhejiang). The covariates-adjusted BMI, BF%, WC, and WHtR significantly increased with increasing frequency, strength, and duration of spicy food eating regardless of gender (p < 0.001). Among regular spicy food consumers, strength of spicy food eating showed significant and positive association with all adiposity measures in both genders (except for BF% in males). Compared with non-consumers, daily spicy food eating was significantly associated with an increase of 0.44 and 0.51 of BMI (kg/m2), 0.79 and 1.01 of BF%, 1.4 and 1.0 of WC (cm), and 0.008 and 0.006 of WHtR in males and females, respectively. In stratified analyses of 18 consecutive BMI subgroups, a significantly increasing trend in the effect of daily spicy food eating on WC and WHtR with increasing BMI was noted in males; whereas a decreasing trend was seen in females.ConclusionsThe data indicate that spicy food intake is a risk factor for obesity in Chinese adult population, especially for central obesity in males. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this association.

Programación nutricional del gusto y la tolerancia al picante

“…Los datos de otro estudio (19) indican que el consumo de comida picante es un factor de riesgo para la obesidad en la población adulta de China, especialmente para la obesidad abdominal en los hombres, pero se necesitan más estudios para dilucidar los mecanismos que subyacen a esta asociación.…”

Cannabimimetic phytochemicals in the diet – an evolutionary link to food selection and metabolic stress adaptation?

“…However, the epidemiological evidence does not portray a clear picture. As shown by a recent big epidemiological study from China, ‘spicy food’ was, quite unexpectedly, positively associated with body weight (Sun et al ., ). In Chinese cuisine, spicy food is more meat‐based rather than vegetable‐based with heavy salt and/or oil use for flavour and palatability, the primary spice being hot pepper ( Capsicum spp.).…”

Mediation effect of body mass index on the association between spicy food intake and hyperuricemia in rural Chinese adults: the Henan Rural Cohort Study

“…Over the past several decades, many studies have been conducted to explore the effects of spicy food and their bioactive ingredients such as capsaicin. Although some previous studies have shown bene cial effects of spicy food consumption on obesity and other chronic diseases [11,[14][15][16], there are inconsistent results of the association between spicy food intake and obesity have been reported in animal and human intervention studies [17,18]. The China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study found that spicy food consumption was positively associated with BMI and other adiposity measures among half a million Chinese people [19], Our previous also found spicy avor, spicy food intake frequency was positively associated with general obesity [20].…”