A new study conducted at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences suggests that eating spices regularly may be linked to lower death risk, therefore making you live longer.

The study involved 487,375 participant between the age of 30 and 79.  The study evaluated general health, physical measurements and overall consumption of spicy foods, red meat, vegetables and alcohol of each participant through a questionnaire.

One of the interesting finds of this study is that participants who ate spicy foods almost every day had a 14 percent lower risk of death compared to those who consumed spices and spicy foods less than once a week.  They found this benefit to be equal for both men and women. So

Eating Spices Linked to Longer Life

The most common spices reported by participants in this study were fresh and dried chili peppers.

The study also noted that participants who ate spicy foods frequently had a lower risk of death from cancers and other respiratory diseases.  This seemed to be of greater benefit to women than men but both did have a lower risk.

So eat all of the delicious spices you want! Perhaps the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” might be better changed to “A chili pepper a day keeps the doctor away.”