Harshad Parekh wrote:
>
> Harshad Parekh wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Eat spicy food, it's good for you
> > >
> > > By JANE E BRODY
> > >
> > > NEW YORK : Choose any and all correct statements: People living in hot
> > > climates eat lots of highly seasoned foods because:
> > >
> > > 1. Hot spices cool them down by making them sweat
> > > 2. Food spoils faster in hot climates and potent seasonings disguise the
> > > taste and smell of spoiled good.
> > > 3. Spices grow profusely in the tropics and it is cheaper and easier for
> > > people to eat what is locally available.
> > > 4. Spices provide important nutrients that might otherwise be in short
> > > supply in these areas.
> > > 5. Spices make foods taste better and increase consumption of nutritious
> > > but not necessarily appealing foods.
> > > 6. Pungent spices are natural preservatives that inhibit food spoilage.
> > >
> > > If you choose any of the first four statements, logical as they may seem,
> > > two Cornell University researchers say you would be wrong. In a paper
> > > published in The Quarterly Review of Biology, Jennifer Billing and Paul
> > > Sherman argue that "some like it hot" because spice plants contain powerful
> > > antibiotic chemicals capable of killing or supressing the bacteria and fungi
> > > that commonly contaminate foods and can poison those who eat them.
> > >
> > > Spices that are prominent in traditional from tropical and sub-tropical
> > > regions are used with a much lighter hand, if at all, in countries and
> > > regions where the climate is colder, the researchers found. And many of
> > > the spices that appear most often and abundantly in recipes from hot
> > > climates - especially garlic, onion and hot peppers - can inhibit 75 percent to
> > > 100 percent of the bacteria species against which they have been tested,
> > > according to stuides by food microbiologists.
> > >
> > > The researchers concluded that a taste for spicy foods may have evolved in
> > > hot climates and been transmitted from neighbour and to succeeding generations
> > > as a cultural neme, the social science equivalent of a gener. While they admit
> > > that the immediate reason for using spices "obviously is to enhance food
> > > palatability," they added that "the ultimate reason is most likely that spices
> > > help cleanse foods of pathogens and thereby contribute to the health, longevity
> > > and reproductive success of people."
> > >
> > > George Williams, the editor of the journal, said the transmission of a
> > > taste for highly spiced food can begin in the womb. He cited studies by
> > > Sandra Gray at the University of Kansas showing that "the mother's diet
> > > during pregnancy and lactation can influence the dietary habits of her
> > > baby throughout its life."
> > >
> > > Of course, Dr. Sherman said in an interview, people have other ways than
> > > spices of preserving food - by salting, cooking, smoking, or drying it,
> > > and now by refrigerating or freezing it. But he believes the contribution
> > > of spices, all of which come from plants, had not previously been adequately
> > > explored or appreciated. He pointed out that many spice plants are rich in
> > > compounds that have antimicrobial actions. These compounds evolved in plants as
> > > protection agains pathogens.
> > >
> > > Thomas Eisner, professor of chemical ecology at Cornell who has studied
> > > how animals use plant chemicals, said, "Many plant metabolics have
> > > antimicrobial potency. The use of antibiotics from natural sources is by
> > > no means a human invention." For example, he said, an assassin bug he has
> > > studied scrapes resin from the leaves of camphor weed and spreads it on
> > > her eggs to protect them from pathogens.
> > >
> > > Dr. Sherman, an evolutionary behaviorist and professor of neurology and
> > > behavior, and Ms Billing, then an undergraduate at Cornell, analyzed the
> > > frequency with which various spices appear in the traditional recipes of
> > > 36 countries, including the northern and southern halves of the United
> > > States and China.
> > >
> > > In the analysis of 4,578 recipes containing meat, poultry or fish published in
> > > 93 traditional cookbooks, Ms Billing found that the hotter the climate of the
> > > region, the more spices were called for in the recipes. Especially prominent
> > > were spices like onion and garlic that have been shown to inhibit the growth of
> > > all 30 micro-organisms considered in the study. Capsicums, or hot peppers,
> > >which are widely used in hot climates, inhibit the growth of 80 >
> >percent of micro-organisms considered in the study.
> > >
> > > For example, among 120 recipes from Indonesia, 80 percent contained garlic
> > > and onion and 77 percent contained capsicums. However, in Ireland, a cooler
> > > country, onions appeared in 56 percent, garlic in 23 percent, and capsicums in
> > > only 2 percent of 90 recipes analyzed, even though the plants can grow there.
> > >
> > > In India, more than 80 per cent of Indian recipes were prepared with onions,
> > > ginger, and capsicums and 76 percent called for garlic. But in Norway, the only
> > > prominent seasonings were black and white pepper, used in less than half the
> > > recipes. Onion appeared in only 20 percent of recipes and capsicums were not
> > > found in any of the 77 traditional recipes analyzed.
> > >
> > > Likewise, there are spice use differences within countries with significant
> > > regional temperature difference: the north and sourthern United States and
> > > northeastern and southwestern China. Dr. Sherman suggested that antimicrobial
> > > activity may explain why a bland milk-based clam chowder became popular in New
> > > England while a spicier craw-fish etoufee is preferred in the Deep South. "I
> > > consider recipes a record of the cultural co-evolutionary race between us and
> > > microbes," Dr Sherman said, "We are trying to keep ahead of the microbes that
> > > are trying to eat the same foods we eat."
> > >
> > > He outlined a likely scenario for the evolution of highly spiced foods
> > > in countries where food-borne microbes thrive: "The first spice is added;
> > > it has a positive effect. Then a second microbe comes along and another
> > > spice is added, which has a positive effect, and so on, until a lot of
> > > spices are being used, but not so many that there are negative consequences."
> > >
> > > He also noted that many spices that themselves have relatively weak antibiotic
> > > effects become much more potent when combined, for example, in chili powder
> > > (typically a mixture of red pepper, onion, paprika, garlic, cumin, and oregano)
> > > and five-spice powder (Pepper, cinnamon, anise, fennel and cloves). Dr. Sherman
> > > and Ms Billing noted that "flavors of many widely used spices are not
> > > immediately appealing." Rather, people have to learn to like them.
> > >