Does Hot Sauce Raise Blood Pressure?

These processed, store-bought tomato sauces can contain a great deal of sodium (one popular brand has 480 milligrams per half-cup serving) and can directly affect the ability of the kidneys to remove excess water. Water retention contributes to elevations in blood pressure, placing your heart into overdrive.

Therefore, not everyone experiences an indirect increase in their body temperature. For some people the feeling of “heat” from hot sauce is pleasurable, since it triggers the increase in endorphins. For others, body’s reactions to the perceived burning result in unpleasant side effects, including sore throat, heartburn, and digestive issues.

If you’ve ever eaten a bite of hot sauce and felt like your heart was pounding a little faster than it had been before, you weren’t just imagining it.

Still, hot sauce is lower in sodium than many other condiments and can fit into a heart-healthy diet if you enjoy it in moderation alongside other nutritious, low sodium ingredients. Hot sauce is relatively high in sodium, a nutrient you may need to limit your intake of — especially if you have high blood pressure or are sensitive to salt.

Why does hot sauce make your heart beat faster?

According to Thrillist, because hot sauce increases the amount of blood flowing towards the stomach after you eat it, it causes your heart rate to increase as well, which revs up the circulation of blood all throughout your body. It’s all in response to the heat you just ingested.

According to Slate, there are pain receptors that line the small intestine, which, when capsaicin hits them, can cause a neurotransmitter that causes stomach contractions (also known as cramping) to be released. If you regularly suffer from stomach cramping after eating spicy foods like hot sauce, then you may choose to avoid eating too much of it as a way to stave off any potential digestive issues such as painful cramping, or even diarrhea.

Capsaicin binds to the receptors on your tongue that detect temperature and indicate pain. That’s why your mouth gets hot and feels like you’re in some big-time pain whenever you take a bite too inundated with hot sauce — even though you’re really just fine.

Your core temperature rises. Shutterstock. Whenever you take a bite of something spicy, such as hot sauce, your body undergoes thermogenesis, which is the process by which your internal core temperature rises, according to Thrillist. It makes you sweat, your nose gets runny, and your face (and sometimes other parts of your body as well) …

While, of course, this hot sauce health effect doesn’t kick in immediately after you eat it, it could be a serious health benefit to encourage you to up your intake of spicy food if you have a prostate. According to 2010 research published in the journal Future Oncology, capsaicin may work well at suppressing the growth of prostate cancer tumors.

According to Science Daily, because capsaicin raises your body temperature, it could help your metabolism rev up and you burn more fat, making your weight loss efforts more successful than if you didn’t incorporate capsaicin-containing foods into your diet. It can be relatively easy to add more hot sauce to your food, so you might as well eat up.

Like many things you eat, hot sauce can have a big impact on your body and your health, both immediately after you take a bite and over the long-run. Between digestive effects, energy boosts, and increased longevity, there are a whole lot of things that can happen to your body when you eat hot sauce.

What are the benefits of hot sauce?

The peppers in hot sauce are colorful and shiny, and it’s those bright colors that let you know they’re full of health-saving antioxidants . Each type of pepper has its own unique blend of antioxidants, but they all have some amazing properties. Red chili peppers, for example, slow tumor growth and can inhibit some types of cancer.

The exact amount of calories will vary by brand and flavor, but on average, a tablespoon of hot sauce has only six calories. Tayra Lucero for LittleThings.

When you’re eating something spicy, you’re not going to take a huge bite. Instead, you’re going to nibble a bit more slowly so you don’t set our whole mouth ablaze.

Sure, when your tongue feels like it’s on fire, it seems like capsaicin causes pain, and it can! But it’s also the main ingredient in a lot of topical pain relief creams. The heat caused by the chemical soothes pain and relaxes muscles. But you can also ingest it to feel its soothing benefits.

Spicy Benefit #10: Keeps You Young. A study has shown that people who regularly eat spicy food tend to live longer than those who don’t. That’s because hot sauce has all these great health benefits, and also positively affects gut bacteria, leading to a decrease in ailments like diabetes and heart disease.

It might seem counterintuitive, since hot sauce makes your taste buds all kinds of agitated, but a study has shown that capsaicin promotes nitric oxide release in the blood, which lowers blood pressure.

Spicy Benefit #1: Adds Flavor Without The Calories. If you’re watching your weight, it can seem like all the good, flavorful food is off limits. But not necessarily! Hot sauce is great for adding flavor to just about anything — pasta, eggs, meat, and even vegetables — but it doesn’t come with added calories.

How much sodium is in hot sauce?

Hot sauce may be high in sodium depending on the brand, type, and serving size. In fact, 1 teaspoon (5 mL) contains about 124 mg of sodium. For reference, most regulatory organizations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom recommend limiting sodium intake below 2,300–2,400 mg per day ( 1. ).

Instead, choose hot sauces that contain a few simple ingredients, such as peppers, vinegar, salt, and spices. summary. When shopping for hot sauce, look for a product that’s low in sodium and free of additives, preservatives, and food dyes.

Therefore, because most studies use very high doses of capsaicin, it’s unclear how much hot sauce you would have to eat to obtain similar results. Additionally, due to its capsaicin content, hot sauce may cause certain side effects, including acid reflux, stomach cramps, and a burning sensation on the skin ( 13.

Nutritional value. Hot sauce is very low in calories and free of carbs, fat, and protein. Because it’s used in such small amounts, it’s very low in vitamins and minerals. Still, each serving contains a small amount of vitamin C, a water-soluble vitamin that plays a key role in immune function.

). Cancer prevention. While research in humans is needed, test-tube studies indicate that capsaicin may slow the growth and spread of certain types of cancer cells ( 10.

Hot sauce boasts capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their signature spice. This compound is associated with a long list of benefits, including: Pain relief. Capsaicin is sometimes applied topically to help reduce pain.

How to choose a healthy hot sauce. Although hot sauce fits into a healthy, well-rounded diet, it’s important to remember that not all varieties are created equal. In fact, some types of hot sauce are loaded with sodium, additives, and other unhealthy ingredients that harm your health.