Does Spicy Food Boost Testosterone? Here’s The Truth
Secretly, your taste buds say more about your testosterone than you may think…
Because there is a spicy food, testosterone connection few men know about.
According to a new French study published in the journal, Physiology & Behavior men who prefer hotter foods tend to have higher testosterone levels…
It’s kind of an odd study…
But here’s how it went down…
114 men were given a free lunch of mashed potatoes and were allowed to put as much salt and hot sauce as they’d like on them.
The researchers found the men with higher testosterone levels (determined by a saliva test) had a greater preference for hot sauce and used more of it.
And the amount of salt used was no predictor of T levels.
Should we take this study at face value? And assume there’s a spicy food, testosterone connection right before our eyes?
Maybe…
There’s another way eating spicy food can indirectly boost your T-levels naturally.
Spicy foods boost metabolism. And a healthy metabolism is essential for having optimal testosterone levels and generally speaking, for improving your quality of life.
Every cell in your body depends on its own ability to produce enough energy to do everything that it needs to do – including keeping you at your anabolic best.
When your metabolism is slow, estrogen levels and cortisol levels increase, which is why a lower metabolism has been linked to excessive belly and chest fat for men…
And unfortunately, a slow metabolic rate also can hurt performance in the bedroom, too. So, what’s the link between your metabolism and your testosterone levels, exactly?
The Metabolism-Testosterone Connection
Here’s how your metabolism and testosterone are linked in a nutshell:
- You eat food
- Your liver converts that food into cholesterol
- Your cholesterol turns into the steroid hormone, pregnenolone
- Pregnenolone then converts into DHEA
- DHEA converts into testosterone
The metabolism testosterone connection comes into play during the cholesterol to pregnenolone conversion.
An active metabolism is necessary for optimal thyroid health – which is really the bread and butter of the metabolism testosterone connection…
Your active thyroid hormone (T3) and vitamin A combine with cholesterol to create this steroid hormone.
And if your thyroid hormone is running too slowly, you won’t produce as much T3 as is most optimal and will miss out on testosterone as well.
Healthy metabolism = healthy thyroid= healthy testosterone.
So the bottom line is that if you want to get your testosterone right, you need to get your metabolism right.
And eating spicy foods will do that.
A recent study published in Obesity Open Access found spicy food increases metabolism...
For the study, researchers gave 40 men and women a 2-milligram capsule of capsaicin—the ingredient that gives chili peppers their heat—or a placebo every day…
Then, researchers measured the subjects’ metabolic rate each hour for three hours after taking the pill…
And they found a major uptick in metabolism throughout…
The study found that people who supplemented with the capsaicin capsule burned an extra 116 calories per day compared to people who popped the placebo.
That’s because capsaicin has a thermogenic effect, meaning your body creates more heat as it digests the spice, which results in more calories burned.
Another study published in Physiology and Behavior also reported that people who consumed spicy food not only had a higher metabolic rate (and burn more calories as a result) but they also had fewer cravings later on in the day.
So does spicy food boost your metabolism?
The research gives us a conclusive yes.
As a side note, a healthy metabolism is also linked to a healthy sex drive…
One comprehensive study that involved 1,300 men sought to find a correlation between metabolic health and sexual performance…
The 1,300 men were given an oral survey to find out which among the group had metabolic syndrome…
Of the 1,300 tested, 455 (35%) of the individuals were red-flagged for it.
And 70% of the men who had a metabolic disorder also had erectile dysfunction.
So if improving your testosterone levels and general quality of life won’t convince you of the importance of getting more spices on your plate, maybe getting more spice in the bedroom will.
What Spicy Foods Should I Eat?
So we answered the question of does spicy food boost your metabolism…
So here are a couple of spicy foods I recommend you get in your diet...
Chile Peppers
Spice-up your plate to speed up your metabolism.
Chili peppers are easy metabolism boosters that you can add to virtually any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner.
These spicy veggies contain capsaicin, the chemical that was proven to increase metabolism in the subjects of the above studies.
Ginger
Ginger is one of the best metabolism-fueling spices you can consume.
Studies have shown that by dissolving 2 grams of ginger powder in a cup of hot water and drinking it with any meal can help you burn almost 50 calories more than if you had just ingested the water by itself…
And like Chile peppers, ginger helps to satiate your appetite so you won’t be a slave to cravings later on in the day.
As a side benefit, ginger, like other spicy food, opens up your blood vessels and increases your blood flow – a necessary function for better libido.
Hot Sauce
Hot sauce is an easy way to top off your favorite foods and give them an extra metabolic kick…
Just like the Chile peppers and ginger, hot sauce will rev up your metabolism and suppress your appetite.
In fact, one study found that when adult men consumed appetizers with hot sauce, they ate 200 calories less at later meals than those that did not.
So dump hot sauce on your eggs, beef, or even in a serving of rice.
Your Next Step
Is there a spicy food testosterone link?
Yes.
Spreading out some spice throughout your meals will be a great way for you to keep your metabolism burning, fight cravings, lose fat, and increase testosterone levels as a result.
The next step is pretty simple.
Add some kind of spice to two of your meals a day.
And hey...
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