Korean J Neurogastroenterol Motil.  2005 Jun;11(1):33-37.

The Effect of Red Pepper on Gastric Emptying

• Choi HS
• Shon CI
• Cho YK
• Kim HJ
• Park DI
• Chun WK
• Yoon JH
• Kim BI
• Park JM
• Kim EM

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Red pepper has long been used as a condiment in Korea. Capsaicin, the main ingredient of red pepper, is known to have an influence on gastric motility, but information about the effect of capsaicin on human gastric motility is somewhat controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of red pepper on gastric emptying in healthy volunteers.
METHODS
Thirty healthy volunteers with the average age of 33+/-3.7 years old were included in this study. To evaluate the gastric emptying time, all of the volunteers underwent a radionuclide gastric emptying study after ingestion of a test meal that contained 1.5 g and 6 g of red pepper, respectively. We analyzed the parameters such as the gastric half emptying time (T1/2) and the percentage of gastric emptying (% GE), as were measured from the time activity curve that was based on the linear fit between the two test meals.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences in % GE and T1/2 between the two test meals containing 1.5 g and 6 g of red pepper, respectively; 82.0+/-12.8% vs. 84.9+/-11.7% at 30 min, 71.0+/-13.8% vs. 73.9+/-11.1% at 60 min, 59.4+/-16.7% vs. 61.2+/-15.1% at 90 min and 48.2+/-17.1% vs. 48.7+/-14.7% at 120 min for the % GE, and 107.1+/-13.7 min vs. 115.8+/-15.8 min for the T1/2, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that individual differences for the amount of red pepper intake have no specific effect on the gastric emptying time.

Keyword

Red pepper; Capsaicin; Gastric emptying

MeSH Terms

Capsaicin
Capsicum*
Condiments
Eating
Gastric Emptying*
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Individuality
Korea
Meals
Volunteers
Capsaicin