Effects of spicy food consumption on overweight/obesity, hypertension and blood lipids in China: a meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies.

Spicy food intake may have a beneficial effect on hypertension, but adversely affect overweight/obesity, as well as blood lipid levels. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously because the present analyses were based on only observational studies and not intervention studies. More large and high-quality studies in different populations will be needed to verify these associations in the future.