Most our Myanmar people like chili a lot. Also, Asian people like chili, I think because most Thai cuisines
are spicy. In Europe, bell chili is widely eaten. We our Myanmar cannot eat without chili. We eat all kinds
of chili like roasted chili powder, roasted chili flakes, chili powder, chili seasoning etc. The varieties of
chili are about 4000 found in the world.
There are many benefits of chili are as below:
100 gm of chili contains 40 Calorie and 1.9 gm of Protein. Water content is 88%. There are many
vitamins like vitamin A 5%, vitamin C 160%, vitamin E 5%, vitamin K 12% and vitamin B complex. Folate
is 6%. Moreover, many minerals are contained in chili such as Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Phosphorus,
Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Maganese and Selenium. You can see there are many health beneficial
vitamins and minerals. As we have seen chili has very high in Vitamin C, which can boost your body
immunity and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
In chili there are also powerful antioxidants. Apart from Vitamin A and C there are:
Capsanthin: Abundantly found in red chili.
Violaxanthin: Major content of yellow chili.
Lutein: Abundantly found in immature chili i.e., green chili. This is important for eye health.
Capsaicin: The major compound responsible for their hot flavor. It is natural pain killer. Also have anti-
inflammatory effect.
Sinapic acid and Ferulic acid: Antioxidants that can be found in chili and produce variety of health
benefits.
Chili is low glycemic food. That’s why it is suitable for diabetic patients.
Eating chili gets sweating and balancing the body temperature. It also produces endorphins that can
heal depression.
There are various kinds of chili as you know. Among them Bhut/Naga Jollikia is the spiciest. Bullhorn
sweet is the least spicy. The second spiciest chili is Siling Labuyo what we called is Ar-Wah-Thee or Kalar-
Aww. In Europe, they usually eat chili is Bell chili. It is less spicy because it contains less capsaicin. Red
bell chili pepper contains twice vitamin C and eight times more Vitamin A than in green bell chili pepper.
However, if you eat more than enough it can give you adverse effects. When you eat chili a lot, it
irritates the stomach, worsen gastritis, heart burn, worsen acid reflux, indigestion, eye irritation, skin
irritation and nausea. That’s why you should limit your chili intake if you have hemorrhoid, fever, sore
throat, gastritis and kidney dysfunction.
There are various chili recipes you have to choose to eat. Please let me remind you not to eat too much
and to eat in moderation.