The £2 ingredient to add to meals if want to cut back on calories – as scientists show it can make you eat less

The Sun

23-05-2025

THROWING a little heat on your meal could be an effective strategy for cutting back on calories, say scientists.
Increasing "oral burn" - the feeling you get when you eat spicy food - has been found to impact how much people consume during a meal.
In a new study led by Penn State, researchers demonstrated how adding spicy ingredients like chilli peppers to meals causes people eating less and consume fewer calories.
"We know from previous studies that when people slow down, they eat significantly less," said Paige Cunningham, a postdoctoral researcher and lead author on the study.
"We suspected that making a meal spicier might slow people down.
"We thought, let's test, under controlled experimental conditions in the lab, if adding a small amount of spice, but not so much that the meal is inedible, will make people eat slower and therefore eat less."
The researchers found increasing spiciness just slightly using dried chilli pepper slowed down eating and reduced the amount of food and energy consumed at a meal - all without negatively affecting the taste of the dish.
"This points to added chillies as a potential strategy for reducing the risk of energy overconsumption," said John Hayes, Penn State professor of food science and corresponding author on the paper.
"While portion control wasn't the explicit goal of this study, our results suggest this might work.
"Next time you're looking to eat a little less, try adding a blast of chillies, as it may slow you down and help you eat less."
The team carried out three related experiments which involved 130 adults who were served one of two lunch meals - beef chilli or chicken tikka masala.
Both these dishes came in one or two versions - mild or spicy.
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The spiciness level was controlled by carefully varying the ratio of hot versus sweet paprika added to the dishes to vary the heat while keeping the chilli flavour constant.
Participants were then recorded on high-definition video while they ate their meals to monitor their behaviours - including how much food and water they consumed, meal duration, and eating speed of grams per minute.
The researchers also recorded bite rate, bite size, and collected ratings on appetite, liking and spiciness before and after the meal.
"Formulating the recipes took a long time for the chicken tikka," Cunningham said.
"It took so many rounds of testing that my lab mates were sick of it.
"But science is about trial and error. I'd make a recipe, see how far I could push the spiciness, and we'd taste it.
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"We did that until we reached a level where palatability was matched even when spiciness increased."
Slower eating rate often means food is in the mouth longer, which can help signal fullness and lead to eating less, she explained.
Other studies have slowed eating rate by manipulating texture, and similar effects have been observed.
"What's critical here is that the reduction in intake occurred without negatively impacting how much participants liked the food," Hayes said.
Water intake didn't differ significantly between spicy and mild meals, which showed that drinking more water and filling up faster wasn't a primary reason people ate less.
Hayes also noted that appetite ratings made before and after the meals were similar, suggesting participants still felt full after the spicy meal, despite eating less of it.
The team is now looking to understand how oral burn can impact other eating behaviours like snacking.
Whole dried birds eye chillies can be bought for as little as £2 from Tesco.