Clinically, ingestion of capsaicin-or its less stable non-pungent analogue capsiate-has been shown to boost metabolic rate modestly.
This brief overview should make it clear that dietary capsaicin—and, likely to a more limited degree, non-pungent capsiate—has intriguing potential for health promotion. Rodent studies suggest that capsaicin may merit clinical evaluation with respect to endothelial function, progression of atherosclerosis (most notably in diabetics), angina, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiac hypertrophy, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, obesity and gastric ulceration.
