The secret to a long life is... spicy food?

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published 5 August 2015

Pour on the hot sauce: A new study says that regularly eating spicy foods is associated with a lower risk of death. A team of international researchers led by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences found that people who chowed down on spicy foods between one to two times weekly had a 10 percent reduced risk of death compared to those who turned up the heat at mealtime less often than once a week. The more frequently a person ate spicy foods, the further reduced the risk of death became. For people who ate spicy foods on a nearly daily basis, the risk of death was reduced by 14 percent.

But don't run out and stock up on hot chili peppers just yet. Scientists underscored the fact that this connection between longevity and and a taste for spice is merely associational — no cause and effect relationship could yet be confirmed. "Future research is needed to establish whether spicy food consumption has the potential to improve health and reduce mortality directly or if it is merely a marker of other dietary and lifestyle factors," wrote Nita Forouhi from the University of Cambridge. "The added contribution of spicy food intake to the benefits of a balanced healthy diet and healthy lifestyles also remains to be investigated."