ArticleNutrients2022
The Association between Spicy Food Consumption and Psychological Health in Chinese College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Article in Nutrients, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Moderate Food Preferences and Depression with Grey Matter as a Potential Mediator: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- "Chili Burn"-A Case Report of Contact Dermatitis Caused byLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Dietary Capsaicin Exacerbates Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis and Mental Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes Mice.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Association between spicy food consumption and the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and liver fibrosis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Interaction of smoking and spicy habits modifies the risk of erectile dysfunction.Translational andrology and urology · 2024Article
- TRPV1 Channels in the Central Nervous System as Drug Targets.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundCapsaicin is the main active ingredient in chili peppers and spicy food. Animal studies provide contradictory results on the role of capsaicin in psychiatric disorders. There are no epidemiological studies to investigate the relationship between spicy food consumption and psychological health.
methodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted. Psychological health was assessed with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and spicy food consumption was assessed as frequency, strength, and duration of consumption. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to determine the associations between spicy food consumption and psychological symptoms.
resultsOur sample comprised 1771 participants (male = 674, mean age = 21.97 years). The odds of having depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms were 34.0%, 46.5%, and 19.1% in Chinese college students, respectively. After adjusting for a series of covariates, compared with non-consumers, the odds ratios (ORs) of depressive symptoms across spicy food consumption were 1.13 (95% CI: 0.87-1.46) for 1-2 days/week and 1.38 (95% CI: 1.02-1.86) for ≥3 days/week. With regard to anxiety symptoms, the ORs were 0.99 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.27) for 1-2 days/week and 1.50 (95% CI: 1.13-1.99) for ≥3 days/week. For stress symptoms, the ORs were 0.90 (95% CI: 0.66-1.23) for 1-2 days/week and 1.27 (95% CI: 0.89-1.80) for ≥3 days/week. The ORs for the depressive symptoms associated with different intensities of spicy food consumption were 1.00 (reference) for the reference group (non-consumers), 1.17 (95% CI: 0.90-1.52) for eating weakly spicy food, and 1.34 (95% CI: 1.01-1.78) for moderately to strongly spicy food.
conclusionThe findings suggested a positive association between frequently spicy food consumption and depressive/anxiety symptoms in adolescents, and no such association was found for stress symptoms.
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