Like spicy food? You might be helping yourself to reduce weight as spicy food has found to increase the amount of the calories burned by the body.

Some recent studies have shown that eating spicy food can increase the rate of metabolism of the body and thereby decrease the fat accumulation. Some chemicals found in the spicy pepper actually help the body to burn more calories. The chemical is called dihydrocapsiate or DCT which is found in the pepper and is a capaisin related compound. This is not very hot but also helps in controlling the weight.

During the study, scientists provided DVT in capsule form to the testers. Some of them were given a high dose of DCT of about 9 milligrams of DCT three times a day. A second group was given a lower dose of about 3 milligrams of DCT to be taken three times daily. The control group was also given a placebo looking similar to the pills containing DCT.

The results showed that the groups which took the compound actually showed higher metabolism with the higher dose of the compound showing increase in the amount of calories burned. The control group had a lower metabolism rate. The higher dose of DCT caused the metabolic rate to go up to twice that of the control group. The studies also show that more fat was burned by the group that took DCT than the control group.

So, spice up your food, you might be doing yourself good.