Study: Pain Shortens Your Lifespan, Spicy Foods May Prolong It

[Rhykker]

Study: Pain Shortens Your Lifespan, Spicy Foods May Prolong It

A connection between pain and aging has been found in lab mice, and capsaicin, the spicy compound in chile peppers, may be the key.

Scientists have been puzzled as to why people who experience chronic pain tend to have shorter lifespans, but a new study may have the answer. Lab mice that were bred without a specific pain receptor were found to live longer and were less likely to develop diseases such as diabetes as they age.

Researchers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, bred mice without a specific pain receptor that can be found in the skin, nerves, and joints. You know it best when you eat a jalapeño and feel your mouth burning, because this receptor is activated by capsaicin. Mice without the pain receptor lived, on average, 14 percent longer than normal mice, the researchers reported in Cell [http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(14)00481-4].

Lead researcher Andrew Dillin notes that diets rich in capsaicin have already been linked to lower incidences of diabetes and metabolic problems in humans, and he suggests the possibility exists that eating spicy foods can extend your lifespan. "Prolonged exposure to capsaicin can actually kill the neuron" that transmits signals from the pain receptor, he explains. If those signals were knocked out, that may replicate the effects of being born without the receptor in the first place.

I'd be interested in seeing if we observe longer lifespans in cultures that traditionally embrace spicy foods. Do any of you plan on increasing your intake of capsaicin?


Source: Science Magazine [http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/05/mice-feel-less-pain-live-longer]

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[Remus]

Great news! So if jalapenos can extend your life by 10 to 15%, how long would a regular diet of ghost chili peppers extend it? Ooh I must experiment!

 

[higgs20]

So the idea for prolonging life is to get rid of the thing that let's you know when you're hurt and your life is in danger? good work science, you've cracked it.

 

[Darks63]

Too bad most spicy foods/meals also tend to be much more saltier which can cause hypertension if the salt is not carefully regulated.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Now if only they'd quit experimenting on innocent mice, they've done nothing to deserve it.

OT: I hate spicey foods, can't they just put it in a non-burning pill that's all natural?

 

[direkiller]

Imagine this being your reality for years. People with chronic pain are more likely to indulge in eating, smoking and drinking and are also not surprisingly more apt to suffer from severe depression.

I think you missed the big one pain in general leads to decrease in physical activity.
So cronic pain tends to force a less healthy lifestyle, and all the health risks that go along with it.

 

[Jadak]

OR

People/mice without these pain receptors that are triggered by capsaicin eat more spicy foods, because they don't feel the burn as easily.

Missing the point...

It doesn't say anything about spicy foods being beneficial, nor anything at all about mice eating them, just that the lack of said pain receptors seems to make them live longer.

Spicy foods are only mentioned as a reference and as a means of potentially knocking out that pain receptor, has nothing to do with the experiment.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I can say as someone who deals with chronic pain , the study is a bit misleading. Chronic pain has a deep and profound psychological impact on a person. I know it's near impossible for normal people to conceptualize it but try to imagine a life where the first thing you are aware of upon waking up is pain and the last thing you're aware of before falling asleep is pain.


Imagine this being your reality for years. People with chronic pain are more likely to indulge in eating, smoking and drinking and are also not surprisingly more apt to suffer from severe depression.

Well, since they were testing this on mice, I'm gonna assume that they weren't smoking or drinking. They also (presumably) would have given them the same diets.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I already knew chronic pain reduces your lifespan in a number of ways, but it's not something pleasent to be reminded of as soon as you wake up T.T
Ah well, I guess I'll just go try eating so jalapenos

as one centenarian put it. 'You don't get to be my age because of anything you did...you get there in spite of everything you did' meaning it will always be a bit of a lottery.

Damn straight, High Five mate

 

[Loop Stricken]

Hang on.

Pain shortens your life, spicy food lengthens it.
But... spicy food can cause pain. What then, Science? WHAT THEN?!

 

[Therumancer]

My first thought was that I remember reading a while back that these spicy foods were considered bad because they contributed to gout.

As a general rule I tend to ignore science about dietary adjustment, since it seems like it waffles back and forth. One week they tell you something is great and eating tons of it will make you healthier and let you live longer, next weak it's poison and will do the opposite.

I'm a mess to begin with, while I hope to live to at least my average expected age (75) having watched the condition a lot of old people wind up in I have no desire to extend my lifespan too far, especially seeing as I will likely have no family to watch my back when I am in that condition. I want to be happy with what I eat, live a decent amount of time, and pass on quietly and painlessly in my sleep, from which point I hope I will go on to a pleasant afterlife.

 

[Scars Unseen]

usually because as one centenarian put it. 'You don't get to be my age because of anything you did...you get there in spite of everything you did' meaning it will always be a bit of a lottery.

That isn't entirely true. Though the capsaicin thing doesn't seem to be a factor, there are places in the world where people tend to live longer. This [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone] wikipedia article points out some of them, as well as some factors they have in common. Of course, correlation does not equal causation, but that it's all a crapshoot with nothing you can do to influence the outcome just isn't the case, or you wouldn't have entire cultures living longer than others.

 

[weirdee]

Great news! So if jalapenos can extend your life by 10 to 15%, how long would a regular diet of ghost chili peppers extend it? Ooh I must experiment!

I don't know, but I get the feeling Jack in the Box could promote their new sandwiches as health food.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Its not the pain involved, its the stress caused by the chronic pain. Stress is the #1 killer of human beings. It causes depression which can lead to eating disorders (causing diabetes), self-mutilation or other harmful things, even heavy drug use.
On the positive side, I eat the hell out of capsaicin rich foods so kudos for me...

 

[whycantijustdeletemyaccount]

.

 

[lacktheknack]

OT: I hate spicey foods, can't they just put it in a non-burning pill that's all natural?

How can one kill a neuron without assaulting it? You need the burning sensation for it to do anything.

 

[Yopaz]

Hang on.

Pain shortens your life, spicy food lengthens it.
But... spicy food can cause pain. What then, Science? WHAT THEN?!

What's happening is that capsaicin, the molecule which is involved in giving you that burning sensation when you eat food with chilli in it is quite similar to a signal molecule involved in response to burn damages. This triggers reactions in your body to inhibit pain responses.

I am a little rusty on the subject so I can't give you any more details than that, but it has been used in treatment of chronic pains because it can cause effects lasting a longer time than what simple painkillers do.

As always when reading these studies we should be sceptical, new findings on a lab bench doesn't always mean there's a benefit or that it can be applied to humans. The fact that this has been used on humans doesn't really mean we can't explain it as a placebo effect. The placebo effect is actually quite amazing in its glory.

Also to all those who are dismissing this study. Please provide sources and read the original study before you do so. This is a study published in a respected scientific publications. It includes a lot of references to their claims along with experimental data. I haven't had the time to read it myself and until that I withhold my judgement, but I intend to read it when I have time later today.

Edit: As stated earlier we should always be sceptical and I am proven correct here. I have just finished the original article (you need to pay for access or belong to an institution that have paid licenses to do so) and the main article is a preview. It discusses the start of an experiment, some prior knowledge (insulin and growth factor hormones and their involvement in ageing to mention some), some findings, details on what has been done and how it would be wise to do further experiments. There is nothing in this that states that eating spicy food will make you older. It says a little about how capsaicin receptors may be involved in one of the mechanisms behind ageing, but there's no conclusion yet. This is early stage experiments, not intended as advice to how you should change your diet to live longer.

 

[Olas]

Finally, something I do actually prolongs life rather than shortens it, I love spicy food. Maybe I won't drop dead next weak after all.

Great news! So if jalapenos can extend your life by 10 to 15%, how long would a regular diet of ghost chili peppers extend it? Ooh I must experiment!

If you do, feel free to record it and share with us all.