Community Update (9/1/26)

Wellness

Steady on Your Feet: Understanding Balance, Strength, and Fall Prevention

VHC Health Webinar, September 11 @ 11:00 am – noon

Gain a basic understanding of the vestibular system and its role in balance, movement, and daily activities. Dr. Brandon Lusk, PT, DPT with PT Solutions will discuss how vestibular dysfunction, poor balance, and weakness can contribute to dizziness, imbalance, and fall risk. He will explain the important connection between balance and strength to everyday tasks such as transfers, walking, dressing, reaching, and fall recovery. Learn to recognize symptoms, understand common causes, and identify when treatment may be beneficial – all with the goal of promoting safe, confident movement and greater independence. Free. Registration required.

Some Like it Hot!

By Joan M Smith

You hear people say things like “put a little spice In your life” or “add some piquant to your life sauce.”  Well, it turns out that these spices are literally positive factors in one’s health!  Apparently, the purported benefits of spicy food have a scientific basis, according to Dr. Trisha Pasricha (Washington Post, July 20, 2026). The doctor shared a major British medical study that linked consuming spicy foods and living longer. For four years scientists tracked the health of more than half a million people. After controlling for multiple factors such as smoking, physical activity and meat/veg/fruit diets, those who ate spicy food six or seven days a week had a 14 percent lower relative risk of dying than those who ate hardly any spice. Another study, this one done in America, corroborated those findings, saying the spicey food eaters were 13 percent less chance of dying from cancer and from heart and lung diseases.

So what is in those spicey foods, and how does this affect us? Let’s look at chile peppers. Capsaicin is the main active component of chile peppers, and scientists think it’s benefit may be in how it affects our nerve cells that perceive heat, both from temperature and from spice (capsaicin). These nerve cells have receptors, named TRPV1 receptors, which are spread throughout our bodies, including the skin, gastrointestinal tract and many immune cells.

This is not proof of causation (that is, spicey food causes longer life) but it does bear additional study. And there are some studies that find an elevated risk of stomach cancer among those who frequently eat spicey food.  So how do we sort this out?

Let’s look at the heart and its relationship to capsaicin. Multiple studies show an association between spicey food intake and lower risk of heart disease and stroke.  We don’t know just how this works, but results point to capsaicin’s ability to increase HDL, or “good” cholesterol; low levels of HDL are a known risk factor for heart attacks. Also, the more spice, the less one tends to use salt, and indeed those spicey food eaters used less salt on their food! Another factor is that capsaicin amplifies the saltiness of taste, so adding spice means food will taste saltier to the eater without additional salt. And remember, less added salt generally means better heart and kidney health!

As for gut health, those TRPV1 receptors (remember those in our nerve cells, that perceive heat?) also participate in pain signaling. However, seemingly paradoxically, capsaicin creams which trigger those receptors can be useful to help treat pain in the large intestine by overwhelming the pain-sensing nerves thereby blunting alarm signals from reaching the brain. And contrary to common myth, capsaicin does not damage a healthy stomach lining. It actually reduces stomach acid production and stimulates more blood flow to the stomach, thereby protecting against gastrointestinal ulcers!

But wait, why do spicey foods tend to aggravate acid reflux symptoms, as when we feel like we have heartburn after a spicey meal?  Well, it is because capsaicin activates the TRPV1 receptors in the esophagus, causing an unpleasant burning in the chest which we mistakenly attribute to acid.

Dr. Pasricha notes that everyone has an individual reaction to capsaicin, and therefore no one should feel they must eat it. She also notes that the Mediterranean-style diet remains the healthiest diet, and if you desire, add chile peppers as part of this!

Occasional diary entry:  

This article is timely. Just today I went to the garden plot where my husband, full of pride, was plucking our first bell pepper. While it seemed smaller than expected, he attributed this to the very hot, dry weather. He handed me a piece which I promptly popped into my mouth. Huge capsaicin jolt! I spat it out but my lips and tongue were on fire!  Even later after I washed both lips and tongue with soap and water, I could feel the tingle.  Oops, not the “bell” type of pepper after all.  However, it will be a nice addition to some dishes and sauces in the future.