Each participant completed two 4-wk dietary periods (bland and chili) Participants ate their normal diet without any spices for 4 wk and their normal diet plus 30 g/d of Freshly Chopped Chilli blend
4 wk. Thirty grams of this chili blend was chosen after 2 palat- ability test sessions, at which time 10 members of the staff (ev- eryday users as well as occasional users) ingested different prod- ucts and amounts of chili with bread. Thirty to thirty-five grams of chili was generally acceptable. The composition of this chili blend (as provided on the container) was 55% cayenne chili, water, sugar, salt, acetic acid, and xanthan. We were unable to analyze the capsaicin content of the chili blend, but the manu- facturer (MasterFoods) reported to us (11 February 2003) that cayenne pepper contains 2000 ppm capsaicin. On the basis of this information, the capsaicin content of the product used in the present study was =33 mg/30 g chili blend (55% chili). This is comparable with the amount of capsaicin (30 mg) used in earlier studies that investigated the effects of meals containing chili on energy metabolism in lean young persons (16 –18).
At the end of each dietary period, the subjects participated in acute meal tests: 2 at the end (=days 22 and 29) of the bland diet and 1 at the end (day 29) of the chili dietary period. The meal on day 22 of the bland diet was a bland meal (BAB; bland meal after bland diet), that on day 29 of the bland diet was a meal containing chili (CAB; chili meal after bland diet), and that on day 29 of the chili diet was a meal containing chili (CAC; chili meal after chili diet).