Do you want to shed those extra pounds without sweating in the gym? If yes, then all you have to do is to eat your favourite spicy curry.
According to scientists, cayenne pepper, a key ingredient in curries, raises body temperature and helps you burn off calories, reports the Daily Express.
Even more remarkable, it helps you eat less at the next meal.
Researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, think that the active compound in the pepper, capsaicin, may be responsible for this.
Their study explored the effects in 25 adult men and women. Half were regular curry eaters and half preferred plainer food.
When the volunteers ate half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper in a test meal, their internal body temperature and postprandial energy expenditure, which is the heat released as the body digests food, increased.
The changes were more pronounced for those who did not usually eat spicy food, suggesting curry eaters may become desensitised to the effects. They also found appetite levels at subsequent meals decreased.
The study has been published in the journal Physiology and Behaviour.
