Yes…really…there are health benefits to hot sauce!

Feeling the burn? No, not with your muscles—your tongue! In response to the rising demand for international cuisines, the hot sauce market is burning up! In fact, the market is expected to reach $3.77 billion by 2026. Not many people realize that hot sauce can also provide a health boost, too. Want to learn how to spice up your life and your health? Keep reading to discover the seven surprising health benefits of hot sauce. Just drizzle a few drops onto your favorite dish and you’re good to go!

1. It Can Help Burn Fat

Spending hours at the gym and testing different diets can help you trim down, but hot sauce can speed up the process. That’s right: one of the most popular benefits of hot sauce is its ability to burn fat.

Chemicals found in chili peppers such as capsaicin can boost the activity and quantity of brown fat cells in your body. These fat cells burn energy instead of storing it the way white fat cells do.

By eating hot sauce, you can spend more energy (and burn more fat) without spending an extra hour on the treadmill!

Since good hot sauce has little-to-no calories or artificial ingredients, you can add as much to your diet as you’d like. It also works alongside any diet (including vegan, paleo, and keto).

Instead of taking huge bites from a spicy dish, we often take smaller ones to relieve the blaze. Eating slower can help you savor the food. As you savor the dish, you’ll also feel more satisfied eating fewer calories.

As a result, you’re eating less, turning white fat cells to brown, and benefiting your overall weight.

2. Halt Cancer Growth

Capsaicin also slows the growth of cancer cells within the body. According to this study, adults who ate spicy foods three or more times a week improved their longevity. These participants reduced their risk of death by 14% compared to people who didn’t add spicy foods to their diet.

Chili peppers contain capsaicin, vitamin C, beta-carotene, potassium, and carotenoids, which can help slow the growth of cancer cells.

By warding off cancer cells and protecting your cells from future cancer growth, you can extend your lifespan. Spice up your diet and you’ll live longer!

3. Relieve Pain & Tension

The benefits of hot sauce don’t stop there! While your tongue might feel like it’s on fire, hot sauce can also relieve pain throughout the body. In fact, the capsaicin found in peppers is often used as an ingredient in topical pain relief creams.

The spicy heat can soothe pain and relax sore muscles.

One of the benefits of eating hot sauce is that it soothes pain within the body as well. Your body will release endorphins, which are considered the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals because they relieve pain. They’ll also make you feel great!

4. It’s An Old-School Cure

Feel a cold coming on? One of the benefits of eating hot sauce is it’s also an old homeopathic remedy for colds.

Chili peppers can clear up congestion, freeing your nose, lungs, and mucous membranes. Hot sauce also stimulates secretions in your digestive tract. As a result, hot sauce can help you breathe easier while giving your immune system and digestion a boost.

In fact, one ounce of jalapeno is jam-packed with 40 milligrams of vitamin C. That’s as much as a single orange.

5. Reduce Risk

Let’s mix it up with two more hot sauce health benefits. Hot sauce can reduce your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease!

Diabetes

The capsaicin in hot sauce can prevent hyperinsulinemia. This condition causes your body to produce excess insulin, which often leads to Type 2 diabetes. By consuming hot sauce, you can normalize your insulin levels, reducing your risk!

Heart Health

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the developed world. According to the American Chemical Society, spicing up your diet could improve heart and blood vessel health.

Capsaicin and other capsaicinoids are substances found in peppers that give them their heat. Capsaicinoids are often found in jalapenos, habaneros, cayennes, and other chili peppers. One of the benefits of hot sauce is quick, delicious access to the capsaicinoids found in these peppers.

So what do capsaicinoids do? In addition to spicing up your diet, they also:

• Lower blood pressure
• Reduce blood cholesterol
• Reduce your tendency to form blood clots
• Improve your overall heart health

Capsaicin and its relatives improve heart health in two ways. First, they reduce cholesterol throughout the body. Eating spicy foods makes it easier for your body to breakdown and excrete the cholesterol it would otherwise cling onto.

Capsaicin also blocks the action of a gene that causes your arteries to contract, which restricts blood flow to our heart and essential organs. Eating hot sauce will allow more blood to flow through your blood vessels, improving organ function.

While reducing total cholesterol levels in your blood, capsaicinoids also reduce “bad” cholesterol without impacting “good” cholesterol.

As a result, eating hot sauce can reduce heart attacks and strokes!

6. Improve Digestion and Reduce Inflammation

Adding hot sauce to your favorite dish can also reduce inflammation in your body. Too much inflammation can cause certain health conditions, such as arthritis. The spice in hot sauce also stimulates stomach secretions, which can give your digestion a helping hand.

Hot sauce can also add a lot of nutritional value to your meal by offering:

• Folate
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C

If your diet seems a little unbalanced, add a splash of hot sauce to get these nutrients!

7. Get Happy

When you consume spicy foods, your body increases endorphin production. In addition to making us feel good and reducing pain, endorphins also relieve stress.

Maybe that’s why eating hot wings or spicy nachos can put a smile on someone’s face!

Now You Know About the Top Health Benefits of Hot Sauce

Ready to spice things up? After reading about these seven health benefits of hot sauce, it’s time to grab a bottle and start cooking!

Looking for the perfect gift for the hot sauce lover in your life? Explore our endless gift set options today!