Fact Check: Can putting red chilli on the tongue while having a heart attack cure it immediately?

A reel on social media claims putting red chilli on the tongue while having heart attacks can stop it immediately

Claim: A reel on the social media site Instagram claims that putting red chilli on the tongue while having a heart attack can stop it. The reel titled "How to Cure fast symptom of heart attack" claims that consuming red chilli while having symptoms of heart attack will instantly increase blood circulation, and a clot will be dissolved immediately. The link to the claim is here.

Fact Check:

The claim is False. No Scientific evidence supports the claim that red chilli can instantly cure heart attacks.

What is a heart attack?

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), “heart muscle needs oxygen to survive. A heart attack occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely.”(1) Atherosclerosis is a gradual process in which coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle become narrowed due to plaque buildup, a mix of fat, cholesterol, and other substances. When plaque in these arteries breaks, a blood clot forms around it, potentially blocking blood flow through the artery. This blockage can lead to ischemia, a condition where blood flow and oxygen to a body part are reduced. In the heart, this condition is known as cardiac ischemia. If ischemia leads to damage or death of heart muscle, it results in a heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction (MI).

Some risk factors for heart attack include smoking, consuming a high-fat diet, having diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure (hypertension), and being overweight or obese.

Globally, around 110 million men and 80 million women have coronary heart disease. (2)

Coronary heart disease prevalence rates in India have been estimated over the past several decades and have ranged from 1.6% to 7.4% in rural populations and from 1% to 13.2% in urban populations (3)

An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% were due to heart attack and stroke. (4)

Symptoms and First response to heart attack 

Dr Prem Aggarwal, Cardiologist, Founder, and Managing Director at Sanjeevan Hospital, New Delhi, explained heart attack's key causes and symptoms, “ Symptoms of a heart attack typically involve chest pain or discomfort, pain that radiates to the shoulders, arms, or back, shortness of breath, and possibly nausea, sweating, and dizziness.

If you suspect someone is having a heart attack, immediately call emergency services and help the person sit in a relaxed position with knees bent to ease heart strain. Keep them calm and loosen any tight clothing. Continuously monitor their condition and Rush them to the hospital with an ECG facility as soon as possible. Consuming red chillies is not scientific and will only waste time which is most crucial in case of a heart attack."

Red Chilli and its health benefits:

Chilli peppers are a major source of carotenoids, precursors of vitamin A and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). They also contain high levels of carotenoids, L-ascorbic acid, and capsaicin. (5)

Does putting red chilli on the tongue cure the heart, while having a heart attack cure it immediately?

No putting red chilli on the tongue cures heart attacks immediately. No scientific evidence backs this claim.

Some studies show some benefits of chilli on cardiovascular health but there is no study that says chillies need to be consumed while a person is having a heart attack .

Huang et al. reported Dietary capsaicin has been demonstrated to reduce the formation of atherosclerotic plaques across multiple species, including mice, rats, guinea pigs, and hamsters. It likely disrupts the processes leading to atherosclerosis through direct (TRPV1-mediated) and indirect mechanisms. (6) No evidence in humans is found.

A study by Moli-Sani provides compelling evidence that regular consumption of hot chilli peppers might reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality. (7)

On the contrary, in a study by Kröll F, one sudden cardiac death was reported in the literature after taking cayenne pepper pills in a 41-year-old man with no prior history of cardiovascular disease (8)

Responding to the claim made in the video, Dr Manav Agrrawal, Interventional Cardiologist at Sanjeevan Hospital, New Delhi, explained, “ There is no scientific basis or medical protocol that supports using red chilli to cure a heart attack. This approach should not be considered a treatment.  The immediate treatment for a heart attack does not involve dietary substances like chilli peppers. Attempting to treat a heart attack by placing red chilli on the tongue is not only ineffective but could be dangerous. Patients having symptoms of a heart attack need to be immediately rushed to the hospital and not waste time relying on these claims.”

Medical Dialogues Final Intake:

Putting Red chili on the tongue while having a heart attack does not stop it. On the other hand, this might lead to wasting crucial time, which is essential during heart attacks. Chilli may have some cardiovascular health benefits, but the claim of putting Red Chilli on the tongue while having a heart attack to stop it is FALSE.

References:

 1.https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/about-heart-attacks.

2.https://www.bhf.org.uk/-/media/files/for-professionals/research/heart-statistics/bhf-cvd-statistics-global-factsheet.pdf?rev=f323972183254ca0a1043683a9707a01&hash=5AA21565EEE5D85691D37157B31E4AAA#:~:text=It's%20estimated%20around%20200%20million%20people%20are%20living%20with%20coronary%20heart%20disease.&text=Globally%20around%20110%20million%20men,women%20have%20coronary%20heart%20disease.&text=Coronary%20heart%20disease%20kills%20an,the%20world's%20single%20biggest%20killerr.

3. Gupta R, Joshi P, Mohan V, Reddy KS, Yusuf S. Epidemiology and causation of coronary heart disease and stroke in India. Heart. 2008;94:16–26.

4. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds).

5. Azlan A, Sultana S, Huei CS, Razman MR. Antioxidant, Anti-Obesity, Nutritional and Other Beneficial Effects of Different Chili Pepper: A Review. Molecules. 2022 Jan 28;27(3):898. doi: 10.3390/molecules27030898. PMID: 35164163; PMCID: PMC8839052.

6.Huang W., Cheang W.S., Wang X., Lei L., Liu Y., Ma K.Y., Zheng F., Huang Y., Chen Z.-Y. Capsaicinoids but not their analogue capsinoids lowe plasma cholesterol and posesses beneficial vascular activity. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2014;62:8415–8420. doi: 10.1021/jf502888h.

7. Spence, J. Chili Pepper Consumption and Cardiovascular Mortality∗. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019 Dec, 74 (25) 3150–3152 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2019.08.1071

8. Kröll F., Karlsson J.A., Lundberg J.M., Persson C.G. Albumin protects against capsaicin- and adenosine-induced bronchoconstriction and reduces overflow of calcitonin gene-related peptide from guinea pig lung. Acta Physiol. Scand. 1990;139:223–232. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-1716.1990.tb08915.x.