title: Consumption of spicy foods and total and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the associations between the regular consumption of spicy foods and total and cause specific mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Population based prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  China Kadoorie Biobank in which participants from 10 geographically diverse areas across China were enrolled between 2004 and 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  199,293 men and 288,082 women aged 30 to 79 years at baseline after excluding participants with cancer, heart disease, and stroke at baseline.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consumption frequency of spicy foods, self reported once at baseline.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total and cause specific mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During 3,500,004 person years of follow-up between 2004 and 2013 (median 7.2 years), a total of 11,820 men and 8404 women died. Absolute mortality rates according to spicy food consumption categories were 6.1, 4.4, 4.3, and 5.8 deaths per 1000 person years for participants who ate spicy foods less than once a week, 1 or 2, 3 to 5, and 6 or 7 days a week, respectively. Spicy food consumption showed highly consistent inverse associations with total mortality among both men and women after adjustment for other known or potential risk factors. In the whole cohort, compared with those who ate spicy foods less than once a week, the adjusted hazard ratios for death were 0.90 (95% confidence interval 0.84 to 0.96), 0.86 (0.80 to 0.92), and 0.86 (0.82 to 0.90) for those who ate spicy food 1 or 2, 3 to 5, and 6 or 7 days a week, respectively. Compared with those who ate spicy foods less than once a week, those who consumed spicy foods 6 or 7 days a week showed a 14% relative risk reduction in total mortality. The inverse association between spicy food consumption and total mortality was stronger in those who did not consume alcohol than those who did (P=0.033 for interaction). Inverse associations were also observed for deaths due to cancer, ischemic heart diseases, and respiratory diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this large prospective study, the habitual consumption of spicy foods was inversely associated with total and certain cause specific mortality, independent of other risk factors of death.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Canqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bian
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dianjianyi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hainan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Haikou, Hainan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Gansu Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Lanzhou, Gansu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Liuzhou, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhenzhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Licang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Nangang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China lmlee@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Yanjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Junshi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Zhengming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, People's Republic of China Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China lmlee@vip.163.com.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004032:Diet / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017365:Spices