Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered that eating hot chillies might help people to lose weight and fight obesity. Lead author Amanda Page said that our stomach stretches when it is full, which activates nerves in the stomach to tell the body that it has had enough food. Page found that this activation is regulated through hot chilli pepper or TRPV1 receptors. Page added that it was known from previous studies that capsaicin, found in hot chillies, reduces food intake in humans, adding that they discovered that deletion of TRPV1 receptors dampens the response of gastric nerves to stretch, which results in a delayed feeling of fullness and the consumption of more food. She further found that TRPV1 receptors can be disrupted in high fat diet induced obesity.
