Health and Spices

Posted on April 8th, 2007 by admin.
Categories: Health, Spices.

People have been making their food more appetizing for thousands of years by incorporating local plant materials. Often, these materials contained certain chemicals that offered a zesty flavor which we found quite pleasing to the palate. We incorpoated these pungent plants into our diets then, and continue to use them now. However, these so-called “spices” are, in fact, toxic to us. So why do we keep using them?

Research points to the evolutionary race between humans and bacteria. Certain microbes cause a variety of ailments generally referred to as “food poisoning”. We don’t have built-in defenses to fight off all of these pathogens. However, many plants do. We incorporate their defenses in our cooking and, in effect, utilize them to potect ourselves. In other words, when cooked with certain spices, food that could be carrying dangerous bacteria will potentially be “detoxified”.

The same chemicals that kill the aforementioned dangerous microbes, however, can also have a deleterious effect on humans. Research shows that spices can be allergenic, carcinogenic, and even abortifacient. However, when dealing with spicy food, we have seemed to have developed the abiliy to know when to say when. Check out research posted on the Cornell Univesity news site for more information.

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