Tag Archive for: spices

Spice Up Your Life and Be Healthier

/in /by

Before I get into this memo any further, keep in mind there were only 12 subjects in this study, and we don’t change our recommendations for an entire society based on a limited numbers of subjects. We just have to recognize that this is a preliminary study. Second, because they examined a large number of variables, the probability of getting a false positive increases.

As long as we keep those in mind, the results were really surprising. Adding spices to a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal reduced the inflammation caused by that meal. While coconut curry chicken might not be your preference, I’d wager you’ve eaten a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a soft drink at some point. That can easily add up to a similar profile of a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal. So let’s take a look at the spices.

The Spices

The spice blend included the following spices, but not all dishes contained all the spices. For example, the turmeric was used in the chicken dish while the cinnamon was used in the biscuit:

Turmeric
Ginger
Cinnamon
Oregano
Parsley
Basil
Coriander
Cumin
Red pepper
Rosemary
Black pepper
Bay leaf
Thyme

This is not a magic blend by any means, but each of these spices and herbs have different phytonutrient blends. The magic comes from those phytonutrients. Recall the image of the various sizes of measuring spoons. A teaspoon is 5 grams, a half teaspoon is 2.5 grams, and an eighth of a teaspoon is 0.625 grams. That illustrates how little of a spice you need per serving. Keep that in mind if you decide to spice up your meals.

What we don’t know is whether there’s any interaction between those spices and herbs that would impact the inflammatory hormones. We know that turmeric and ginger have been studied extensively. The researchers recommended testing each spice individually.

Two Observations

There are probably dozens of factors that need to be examined, but two stand out in my mind. First, we’ll need to find out the impact of cooking on each of the different herbs and spices. Does heat destroy the phytonutrients or does it enhance them? We have a partial answer from this study because the spices were put into the dishes as they were being prepared and not added as a topping.

Second, if you take supplements with phytonutrient blends in them, it may be wise to take them either before or while you’re eating so the phytonutrients will be available to help during the digestive process. I’ve always recommended taking your supplements whenever you can remember to take them, and I still stand by that because consistency is more important than timing. But if you can increase the potential benefits by taking them with meals, that’s a good idea.

The Bottom Line

The reason that I loved this approach to research is because it was practical. By that I mean, instead of assessing only one food or a specific group of foods, this study looked at what we would consider “bad foods” together with herbs and spices that are full of phytonutrients to see how they work together.

If you think about it, if saturated fat and refined carbohydrate were as bad as they’re thought to be for the risk of CVD or type 2 diabetes, those diseases would take effect much faster. But perhaps, cake with dark chocolate frosting or French fries with ketchup work with their phytonutrients to somewhat neutralize the bad effect of the food by itself. It doesn’t mean that we don’t bear responsibility; we should still eat as healthy as we can. But perhaps if we choose wisely, we may be able to enjoy some of the food that are perceived as not as healthy if we can spice them just right.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: J Nutr 2020;150:1600–1609.

The Health Benefits of Spices

/in /by

Continuing our look at the research study on the effect of spices on markers of inflammation, there were some interesting results. The high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal was coconut curry chicken, a cornbread muffin, and a biscuit; that strikes me as an odd meal, but you do what you must for research. The only difference was the spices added to allow for comparative results.

Examining the effect of the 1,000-calorie, high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal, the researchers found an increase in the release of inflammatory hormones above baseline in all subjects. So that’s the first result: inflammation was increased after eating the test meal with no spices added.

Compare that to consumption of the same meal with six grams of spice blend: it significantly reduced IL-1β secretion at four hours after the meal compared with the meal with none of the spice blend. Also, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, and TNF-α secretion after the meal containing six grams of the spice blend was below baseline values for each cytokine (inflammatory hormone). These results suggest that spice consumption may reduce inflammation after a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal for hours after eating. The paper is Open Access, so you can read it yourself at the link in the references.

Those are interesting results, and I’m guessing you really would like to know which spices were used in the study. I’m going to give you that spice blend and put this research in context in Saturday’s memo. But if you haven’t done our little experiment with the teaspoon, half teaspoon, and eighth teaspoon, please do it before then.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: J Nutr 2020;150:1600–1609.

Can Spices Make You Healthier?

/in /by

I’d like you to do something before you read the rest of this memo. Go to your drawer that contains measuring spoons, and pull out the teaspoon, half teaspoon, and eighth teaspoon. Then measure out salt or sugar for each different volume and put it on a plate. Notice how little there is by the time you get to the eighth teaspoon. Keep that image in your mind for the remainder of the week.

Too often, nutrition research lacks a practical approach; researchers try to drill down into the details before they look at the larger response to any intervention. In other words, examining what people actually eat and cook, then changing something and seeing what happens. I don’t mean exaggerated results such as weight loss, but more subtle effects such as changes in triglycerides, cholesterol, blood sugar, and in this case, markers of inflammation.

This week we’re going to take a look at a recently published paper that took exactly that approach. Researchers selected a group of 12 overweight male subjects with at least one additional risk factor for cardiovascular disease and fed them a high-fat, high-carbohydrate, 1,000-calorie meal. They fed them the same meal on three different days: once without any specific spice blend, second with two grams of a spice blend, and the third time with six grams of the same spice blend. They tested the subjects to see what markers of inflammation were changed after each feeding. I’ll give you the results in Thursday’s memo.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: J Nutr 2020;150:1600–1609.

The Science Behind Holiday Spices: Cloves

/in /by

No one has to tell us that Christmas and the New Year are coming; it’s in the air. You can smell the holiday season this time of year. This week, I’m going to cover three spices used this time of year and talk about some of the potential health benefits of each. I’m not suggesting their use makes foods healthy if they’re also high in sugar and fat—just that there’s some interesting science behind these spices.

If you prepare . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.