Chillies for Gut Inflammation
Chillies for Gut Inflammation
Inflammatory bowel disease affects approximately 1 in 250 people aged 5-40. Almost 75,000 Australians have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, with this number projected to increase to 100,000 by 2022
Capsaicin, commonly found in hot chilies, triggers a chemical cascade that ironically calms the inflammatory response in your gut
You may also reduce the inflammatory response in your gut by normalizing your microbiome using fermented or cultured foods, increasing your fiber content and including coconut oil in your diet.
Recent research conducted on mice found when, fed capsaicin (what makes chilli peppers hot) they had less inflammation in their gut, with some even cured of a mouse model Type 1 Diabetes. The capsaicin acts on receptors, causing local production of anandamide. Anandamide acts through cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) increasing the number and function of immune macrophages in your gut.
It controls appetite as well as energy balance through the nervous system in the 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 stability between the nervous & immune systems.
