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Hot Stuff
A feature about the world of chilli in Thailand, the country that most consumes chilli in Asia
Can chilli give you cancer? Or a stomach ulcer? As a chilli junkie I regularly hear these claims from dinner companions. I also hear other bizarre allegations – that chilli can make you blind, for example, or give you hemorrhoids – but now I can take comfort in the reassuring news from science. In a study last year at Thailand’s Mahidol University Dr Prapasri Laohavechvahich demonstrated that chilli actually suppresses the development of mutations – which can lead to cancer – triggered by urethane (a chemical compound used in the manufacture of certain things such as pesticides and fungicides). "Chilli also inhibits carcinogenesis induced by some other chemical carcinogens, such as vinyl carbamate,” says Dr Prapasri.
The effects of capsaicin, chilli's pungent ingredient, on cancer has attracted lots of attention after a study in Mexico in the early nineties found a correlation between high chilli consumption (9 to 25 habanero pods daily) and gastric cancer. These results triggered a wave of other studies that eventually showed the Mexican study to be unreliable. A paper published by researchers at Korea’s Seoul National University argued that, by contrast, “capsaicin has been shown to be gastro-protective.”
“Although capsaicin can be a potential carcinogen or co-carcinogen,” elaborates Dr Prapasri, “the substantial body of data shows the compound to be chemo-preventive or chemo-protective. In the final analysis, chilli is good for a healthy body that has a good repairing system, but it’s bad for someone who has a stomach ulcer and inadequate repairing system.”
Meanwhile, another study at Mahidol University by Siriporn Tuntipopipat showed that iron-absorption dropped by 38 percent in a diet heavy in chilli. Siriporn conducted the tests on pregnant women – a group whose susceptibility to iron deficiency is acuter due to pregnancy-induced iron depletion – and she infused her study-meals with 4.2 grams of chilli. “I agree that that’s a high amount, but it’s still within the habitual range of intake per meal in Thailand’s northeast region,” points out Dr Emorn Wasantwisut, Siriporn’s advisor and director of Mahidol’s Institute of Nutrition. “Yet the 38 percent reduction of iron absorption is a ‘snap shot’, and we don’t know how long it takes before it causes iron deficiency, or anemia. I think the real situation is more complex, and to state that ‘high chilli intake can lead to anemia’ is stretching the point.”
My dinner companions do wildly stretch the point, but we’re in Thailand and questions about the health effects of chilli are apt given the consistently-high use. Thais consume, on average, 5 grams of chilli daily; in the northeast the figure can rise to a staggering 17.2 grams per meal. Moreover, Thailand’s endemic pod, prik kee noo (bird chilli), is the second-hottest variety after the Mexican habanero.
The mother plant itself is actually native to Bolivia and Brazil, and it was taken to Southeast Asia by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. It was then rapidly incorporated into Thai cuisine, and the British chef David Thompson, author of the book Thai Food, thinks the Thais took to chilli so whole-heartedly because of “a similar pre-existing flavour that was already popular, namely galangal and peppercorns, which when combined taste like chilli but with a somewhat drier heat.”
Now Thai food is synonymous with spiciness. Fresh, chopped bird chillies go into most dishes – these can be red or green (the red chillies go in at the beginning of the cooking process, and the green ones are added at the last minute to retain their strong aroma). Other dishes feature another variety of chilli that is dried and deep-fried whole, imparting a roasted flavour, and more fieriness still comes in the form of pastes. These pre-prepared or manufactured pastes fall in two categories: chilli pastes, which contain similar ingredients and a chilli content of between three and twenty percent, and curry pastes, all of which have varying quantities of chilli as well as shallots, galangal, garlic, lemongrass, kaffir lime, shrimp paste, and salt. All these pastes, of which there are dozens, are spooned into sauces and soups in a myriad ways.
Then there are the specialised dipping sauces for grilled fish (green chilli, lemon, lemongrass, and fish sauce), grilled meats (dried flaked red chilli, lemon, fish sauce, and roasted ground rice), and spring rolls, patties, or tempuras (a sweet puree of red chilli, sugar, and vinegar). And, as if all of this is not enough, no dining table in Thailand is complete without three jars of condiments: chopped chilli in fish sauce (containing red for spiciness and green for aroma), chopped chilli in vinegar, and dry flaked chilli.
Yet the pungency-levels reach a feverish intensity in northeast Thailand, and some traditional northeastern dishes are now among the most popular dishes throughout the country. These include tom yam (a super-hot fish soup, traditionally containing prawns) and som tam (a salad whose main ingredients, aside from chillies, are shredded green papaya and crushed raw crabs). Also popular are the yam salads; these feature shards of boiled meat or seafood tossed in chopped onion, chopped tomato, lemon juice, sugar, fish sauce, celery, and red chillies (between four and ten).
Northeastern people believe that people who can’t tolerate spicy food are wimps, and they also have faith in the power of chilli to ward off evil. If they have an obnoxious neighbour, people burn chilli when the wind is wafting towards the offensive neighbour’s house. The same principle applies to bad spirits; if a tragedy or a sickness befalls the household then dried pods are burned to exorcise the spirits. It’s a ritual that has spread throughout the country, and once I saw it happen at a resort in the north. A violent typhoon hit is, blowing in windows and doors, and we ran to the kitchen where we found the cook heaping chilli on the gas burner and shaking with fear. The acrid smell from the smouldering capsaicin was like pepper spray, choking us and making our eyes water. No wonder spirits are repelled – we were also driven out, forced to shelter under the eaves outside.
Superstitions aside, the health effects of capsaicin are multifarious and beneficial (at least for as long as you don’t have a stomach ulcer). The potency of the ingredient is impressive; it’s present in the flesh of the pods (not the seeds as most people think) in quantities ranging from 0.1 to 1 percent, and a study showed that topical cream containing 0.025 percent capsaicin significantly alleviated the pain from arthritis. Chilli’s high content of Vitamin C and Beta-carotene also makes it an anti-oxidant – it impedes oxidation, the process that damages cells, and causes a raft of conditions ranging from diseases to ageing. Another remarkable property of capsaicin is the inhibition of platelet aggregation; platelets can form into clots in major blood vessels, eventually causing serious heart diseases, and capsaicin counteracts this formation.
So, if science is on my side, can I continue to eat chilli to my heart’s content? “There is no clear answer to the question 'is chilli good for you?’” Dr Prapasri says. “And there are no guidelines about how much chilli should be consumed. My advice to people who consume high quantities is to limit the intake to about 14 grams, or around 6-8 chillies, per day.”
(C) Victor Paul Borg 
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