Can culinary spices and herbs help with weight management?
Additional research is needed to evaluate whether spices and herbs help with weight management. Spices and herbs may help in raising metabolic rate and/or increasing the feeling of fullness (satiety). In animal studies, ginger and fenugreek contributed to weight loss as well as lowered blood sugar (10, 11). At a cellular level, different extracts from spices such as black pepper (piperine), red pepper (capsaicin), ginger (zingerone), and turmeric (curcumin) helped reduce the inflammatory response sometimes found in excess adipose tissue(12). Extracts of the red pepper and/or paprika spice have been investigated in several research papers. In a clinical trial, capsaicin (found in red pepper and paprika) when taken along with tyrosine, catechines and caffeine, contributed to minor weight loss and a slight increase of metabolism (13). When capsaicin was given in capsule form in a separate clinical trail to both men and women, it helped increase satiety or the feeling of fullness along wit
