Why Eating Hot Chilies May Actually Cool Your Guts

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Research has recently discovered that hot chilies may help soothe your gut when you suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD is not to be confused with inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS), which is a less serious functional disorder that doesn't cause ulcers or intestinal damage as does IBD.

IBD is an autoimmune condition that may have serious consequences. Currently there are nearly 3 million Americans who suffer from IBD, with nearly 70,000 new cases diagnosed each year. This is nearly triple previous estimates, which may be due to a combination of rising rates and improved diagnostic criteria.

The rising rates of the condition may be related to genetics, environmental factors, diet and changes in your gut microbiome. Research has demonstrated your microbiome is so important that physicians may even use it as a diagnostic tool.

While improving your microbiome plays a significant role in reducing or eliminating your symptoms, capsaicin and endocannabinoids may also play a role in reducing your symptoms through control of your neuroimmune axis. Before understanding how it works, it's helpful to understand the condition.

What Is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

IBD is a chronic inflammation of part or all of your intestinal tract that may result in ulcerations, vomiting, bloody diarrhea and weight loss. The condition is often debilitating and may lead to a life-threatening situation. There are two different types of IBD: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).

UC is generally more common in men, while more women suffer from Crohn's disease. Both forms of IBD are more common in developed countries, while ex-smokers and nonsmokers more commonly have UC, and smokers more commonly develop Crohn's.

People who experience UC will often suffer from ulcers and inflammation in the lining of the large intestines, while Crohn's is a disease that affects your entire digestive tract. Doctors believe your symptoms are the result of widespread recurring immune response focused in your intestines.

Your immune system mistakes substances in your intestines for a foreign material and sends out white blood cells that trigger inflammation. Without significant changes to your lifestyle, symptoms continue to get worse and affect your quality of life.

Unfortunately, the symptoms are often associated with stigma, fear and isolation that have resulted in the disease being relatively hidden and people suffering in silence. While there is no real cure for the condition, there are strategies that may reduce or eliminate your symptoms.

Why Hot Chilies May Calm Your Gut

Recent research has found when mice were fed capsaicin, the substance in chili peppers that makes them "hot," they had less inflammation in their gut — and some were even cured of a mouse model type 1 diabetes Researchers found capsaicin acted on receptors, causing local production of anandamide.

Anandamide acts through your cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) that increases the number and function of immune macrophages in your gut. You have endogenous cannabinoids or endocannabinoids produced in your system from glycerophospholipids. Anadamide is an endogenous intestinal cannabinoid.

It controls your appetite and energy balance through the nervous system in your intestinal tract. This study uncovered the immunological role anandamide and endocannabinoids play in the regulation of immune tolerance in the gut, and in maintaining immune homeostasis between the nervous and immune systems.

Following the discovery of endogenous cannabinoid production in the mid-2000s, a large number of studies exploring the system and regulatory function were initiated, as scientists were hopeful for a pharmaceutical approach to health.

Interactions in the endocannabinoid system are much like those that occur in the brain, as your gut has a very large nervous system affected by the endocannabinoids produced after ingesting chili peppers. Researchers question if people who use edible cannabinoids may experience the same relief.

Article Source: Dr. Mercola at http://articles.mercola.com

Health Benefits of Eating Avocados Everyday

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Sometimes people have more than one serious health complication. If those problems happen to be three or more of the most prevalent risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, such as high blood pressure, high triglycerides and a large waistline, they merge into a single disorder known as metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome represents one very serious illness, affecting 40 percent of the U.S. population over age 40.

Scientists from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), conducting a review of 129 scientific studies on the topic of avocados and metabolic syndrome, now call this malady "the new silent killer." Dr. Charles H. Hennekens says:

"The major factor accelerating the pathway to metabolic syndrome is overweight and obesity. Obesity is overtaking smoking as the leading avoidable cause of premature death in the U.S. and worldwide."

Parvathi Perumareddi, doctor of osteopathic medicine and assistant professor of integrated medical science at FAU, explained:

"The pandemic of obesity, which begins in childhood, is deeply concerning. Adolescents today are more obese and less physically active than their parents and already have higher rates of type 2 diabetes.

It is likely that the current generation of children and adolescents in the U.S. will be the first since 1960 to have higher mortality rates than their parents due mainly to cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease and stroke."

It's something you have control over, however. The review concluded that metabolic syndrome is preventable in most cases using dietary measures. In fact, the featured study revealed that one way you can help prevent metabolic syndrome is by eating avocados.

Avocados: 'It Would Be Hard to Eat Too Much'

Here's why registered dietician Cynthia Sass, with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health, calls avocados worthy of superfood status: They can effectively combat nearly every aspect of metabolic syndrome.

According to Sass, the "impressive range of studies" the researchers perused also covered the nutritional impact the firm, velvety flesh of this pear-shaped green-black food, technically a fruit, can make on several other areas of the body, not just metabolic syndrome symptoms.

It's possible that more than just the fruit itself may be good for you; researchers found possible benefits from consuming the leaves, peels, oil and even the large pit at the center of avocados (although Sass suggested that sticking to the peeled, pitted flesh would be best until further studies can be done).

Time online notes that avocados not only help stave off belly fat — the worst type of fat to carry — but eating them offers such high amounts of healthy fat compared to other fruits, eating too much would be very difficult to do. Further, it's versatile and filling, as well, Sass noted:

"Fortunately avocado is very satiating. It's almost like they have a built-in stop-gap. This is yet another example of how not all calories are created equal. Avocado blends well with both sweet and savory ingredients, and provides the satisfaction factor that makes dishes decadent."

Combine avocados with salsa or fruit chutney to make guacamole; mash them with a bit of lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper for a quick vegetable or pita dip, or a delicious addition to egg salad. Serve mashed avocado on poached or lightly cooked over-easy eggs or slice, salt and eat them all by themselves.

The beauty is that it's not just about the versatility and flavor of avocados; the nutritional profile is incredible.

Additional information from the study about this plant-based food, Science Daily said, was that they're also "lipid-lowering, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antithrombotic. antiatherosclerotic and cardioprotective."

Avocados and Cholesterol

If you don't get any other concept about how avocados can literally change your health, this might move you: The high fat content in avocados is a good thing — it's not "bad" fat. In fact, it's good, necessary fat from oleic acid, which is the same monosaturated fatty acid contained in olive oil.

Oleic acid is associated with decreased inflammation, which helps stave off such diseases as cancer.

Further, neither avocados nor avocado oil are hydrogenated or loaded with trans fats or other unhealthy oxidized fats like most canola, safflower, corn or other vegetable oils you're urged to cook with may be. Avocado oil can even be drizzled over salads and used in recipes calling for other oils.

Avocado oil also has a relatively high smoke point compared to olive oil, making it a better choice for cooking, although coconut oil is best for that purpose.

While some people remain concerned that eating high-fat foods like avocados may adversely affect their cholesterol levels, the opposite is actually true (plus, cholesterol is not the evil it's made out to be).

According to the review, people who eat avocados have higher levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol than those who do not. Eating avocados may also lower triglyceride levels compared to eating high-carb diets or diets without avocado.

Beneficial Nutrients That Make Up Avocados

The California Avocado Commission reports that avocados contain about 22.5 grams of fat, and two-thirds of that is monounsaturated. Other essential nutrients include fiber, vitamins, folic acid, vitamin E and more potassium than you'd find in a banana.

SELFNutritionData reports that avocado also contains small amounts of magnesium, manganese, copper, ion, zinc, phosphorous and vitamins A, B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin) and B3 (niacin). In regard to the dietary reference intake (DRI), 100 grams (3.5 oz.) of avocado contain:

Vitamin K: 26 percent	Folate: 20 percent	Vitamin C: 17 percent	Potassium: 14 percent
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid): 14 percent	Vitamin B6: 13 percent	Vitamin E: 10 percent	Niacin: 9 percent

According to Authority Nutrition:

"This is coming with 160 calories, 2 grams of protein and 15 grams of healthy fats. Although it contains 9 grams of carbs, 7 of those are fiber so there are only 2 'net' carbs, making this a low-carb friendly plant food."

Avocados for Your Heart, Arthritis, Blood Sugar Levels and Weight Loss

Research shows several other positive aspects about avocados: One of the most interesting is that people who eat more of them generally weigh less and have smaller waistlines than people who don't, even if their overall caloric consumption is smaller.

The fiber content can also be thanked for this aspect of avocado consumption. It's both soluble, which amounts to 75 percent, and insoluble fiber, the former of which is linked to good gut bacteria, which affects your body's optimal function.

Avocados also were found to be more filling than other foods. In one study, participants were divided and each half given a meal to eat, one of which contained avocados.

Afterward, a questionnaire revealed that 23 percent of those in the avocado group felt more satisfied and had a 28 percent lower desire to eat within the next five hours.

All these factors are what help make avocados an incredibly healthy food to add to your diet. One study notes that avocados contain high amounts of lutein, zeaxanthin and phytosterols, and explains:

"Eight preliminary avocado cardiovascular health clinical studies (have) consistently demonstrated positive heart healthy effects on blood lipids profiles.

This is primarily because of avocado's … monounsaturated fatty acids and high-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA and PUFA) content, but its natural phytosterols and dietary fiber may play potential secondary … roles.

Avocados also have a diverse range of other nutrients and phytochemicals … In particular, avocado's potassium and lutein may help promote normal blood pressure and help to control oxidative/inflammatory stress."

More and More Avocado Advantages

Antioxidants absorption is another important element to eating this nubby green fruit. In fact, when you add it to salsa or salad, you'll absorb three to five times more fat-soluble carotenoids because of the avocado's lipid content. This, in turn, may help protect your body against free radical damage.

In other words, when you eat carotenoid-rich foods along with healthy fat avocados, your body becomes better able to absorb more of their fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotenes, as well as lutein, zeaxanthin and other antioxidants.

The antioxidants have been noted for their prominent roles in keeping your vision healthy. One study shows the antioxidants protect your macula, located near the center of your eye where your vision is clearest, from short-wavelength visible light, and help prevent age-related macular degeneration as well as cataracts.

Here's another benefit that's very important: Avocados carry a very light load of chemical pesticide spray residue in comparison with other plant-based foods, so it's not necessary to try to find (or grow) organic varieties. They are a fruit, but unlike so many others, avocados don't contain high levels of fructose. Instead, the healthy fat they offer rivals that of coconut oil, organic raw butter, and raw nuts such as pecans and almonds.

Did you know that avocado oil is also good for your hair and skin? It makes your skin softer and more supple, and renders your hair smoother and less frizzy and tangled than without it, especially if your hair is dry. In fact, it has many of the same properties as coconut oil.

Article Source: Dr. Mercola at http://articles.mercola.com