Q. A friend told me that spicing up my food with red pepper could help me lose weight by burning more calories. Is this true?

A. It might be. A certain amount of ingested food is converted immediately to heat. This process is known as diet-induced thermogenesis. The activity of diet-induced thermogenesis is thought to play a major role in determining whether an individual is likely to be lean or obese. In lean individuals, a meal may stimulate up to a 40% increase in thermogenesis. In contrast, obese individuals often display only a 10% or less increase in thermogenesis. In these individuals, the food energy is stored, rather than being converted to heat.

Recent studies have shown that increasing the intake of red (cayenne) pepper (Capsicum frutescens) may be an effective method to increase diet-induced thermogenesis. Adding 10 grams of red pepper to experimental meals significantly increased diet-induced thermogenesis and lipid oxidation (fat burning), particularly after a high-fat meal. The bottom line is that adding red pepper to your diet may in fact increase the burning of fat; however, longer studies are needed in order to determine whether that effect may translate into weight loss.