12 Spices That Boost Your Immune System & Fight Infection | Kanchan Koya | Be Well Moments

Learn about 12 powerful spices that help balance inflammation and support a strong immune system. In this conversation with Kanchan Koya, you’ll discover why chili lovers might live longer, and simple ways to add these spices to soups, teas, and everyday meals for better health.

Dr. Kanchan Koya

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If you enjoyed this episode you might also like:

Surprising Spice Benefits that HELP FIGHT Chronic Disease and Diabeteshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi0zgZ61Op0

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#ImmuneHealth #Longevity #Spices

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Live Well Be Well, a show to help high performers
improve their health and well-being.
You've just touched upon the immune system there with Star
Release, which I found really interesting.
And I think that's probably one of the most common things that
many of our listeners might turnto spices, they might turn to

(00:21):
chilies if they're getting a cold, or they might turn again
to Saranesis. You just said if they're getting
a cold, what are some compounds of spices that could really help
with our immune system? Because one of our listeners,
David wrote in and said can varyspicy food put vary in brackets
have an effect on the immune system.
So I thought, actually, it's really maybe a good one to kind

(00:43):
of tie this all in together. You know, are there any specific
spices that we should be thinking about to help, you
know, the preventative aspects of a strong immune system?
Yeah. I love that question because it
goes back to kind of where we started with inflammation.
So, you know, what we want is balanced inflammation.
We want inflammation in the right place at the right time.

(01:05):
If we are infected with a virus or a bacteria and we need to
mount an inflammatory response, an immune response, we want our
inflammatory processes to work well.
When we have chronic low grade inflammation, we actually don't
mount a robust immune response. They're not actually the same
thing. So chronic low grade

(01:25):
inflammation, something that in the literature we called SCI or
systemic chronic inflammation actually can interrupt our
body's ability to mount that robust immune response when
we're getting sick. So going back to some of these
anti-inflammatory spices like ginger, like turmeric, like
chili, even cumin can allow our bodies to then have a more

(01:49):
balanced inflammatory state. So we can mount that robust
acute inflammatory response whenwe're getting sick.
So you'll see people taking ginger turmeric shots with
lemon. I mean, I think that's all fine.
You know, I don't know that we have robust evidence to suggest
that like a ginger turmeric short shot necessarily shortens
a cold, but I think it could help with some symptoms.

(02:11):
The compounds you were asking about, ginger has a really
interesting compound called gingerol which is great for
balanced inflammation, helps to mount a robust immune response
and might also have some antimicrobial properties.
So, you know, incorporating these things in whether it's a
soup to bring you some symptom relief or a tea or if you really

(02:33):
want to suffer a little bit, a concentrated shot, go ahead and
try. But I would say a wide variety
of these inflammation balancing spices.
And we can put a link in the show notes if you like, to the
study that looked at this blend so people can go and look at it
is quite a few spices. Make yourself a delicious brothy
soup with a bunch of vegetables and add some, you know, shaved

(02:55):
ginger, fresh turmeric, some cumin, coriander, some herbs.
And you've got yourself something that's going to make
you feel better now in terms of your symptoms and also give you
that balanced inflammatory response that you need when
you're getting sick. Your food pharmacy.
I love it. I'm hope I'm like scribbling
down. I'd love for you to send off
that study or we can find the study and we can put it into the

(03:15):
show notes. Because I do think, you know, I
don't, I don't think many peopledo think about this.
And it's maybe it's just my opinion, but I don't think many
people think about a spice blend.
And I always remember now this might not relate to our American
audience, but it would definitely relate to our UK
audience. Michael McIntyre, who was a
comedian, I always remember thisone very famous line that he did

(03:36):
in one of his shows where he wastalking about a spice straw.
And the one that's always gets left behind in the in the spice
straw is allspice. Like no one ever uses allspice
and it's just kind of left therein the drawer.
And now I'm thinking, I always used to laugh at that because
even myself who loves to cook, I'd never use allspice.
But actually, I guess that's a spice blend.

(03:56):
So now it's all coming back around and that's what we should
be using. Actually, allspice is not a
spice blend. I think it's confusing.
No, I it's confusing because it's allspice.
You think it's got like all these?
It's actually spice from the Caribbean and it's like a it's,
it's like a round spice that's dried and it's 1 spice called
allspice. And I agree that it gets that's

(04:18):
left behind in the drawer because people don't know what
to do with it. But it's, it has a lot of great
polyphenols and antioxidants. So yeah.
But great examples of a spice blend would be, you know, if you
just go to some, like if you go to my, my, my culinary heritage
in India, we have something called garam masala.
We put that in in a chickpeas too.

(04:41):
You can put it in your favorite chicken Curry.
Tandoori chicken has tandoori spice blend.
You have a lot of spice blends in the Middle East as well, like
a shawarma blend has multiple spices, cinnamon, cumin.
So there are blends. I think the great place to start
would be to go to like your favorite, you know, favorite
cuisine, if it's Indian or Middle Eastern and pick up a
blend from there and start with that.

(05:02):
And then once you get really proyou can make your own blend. 1
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And women, if you're listening, you are more at risk of being
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(05:24):
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(05:45):
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(06:06):
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It is really critical to make sure your iron levels are in
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pro. I mean, if any of our listeners
do that, please message me and tell me because I'd be very,

(06:29):
very proud. I'm just thinking about that.
One of my favorite ways to use what you just mentioned is to
pop on chickpeas, grand masala and also put some sumac on there
and a little bit of chili, a little bit of like smoked
paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper.
And I roast them and it is so delicious. 1 is a snack, but
also to add into a salad to giveit a bit more of a crunch.

(06:52):
I'm just hearing. Like a crouton exactly.
But like a healthy version of a crouton, you know, you're
getting all your spices. You're getting all your spices,
which also I love count as one of your 5A day.
You're also getting another one of your 5A day from the legume,
which is the chickpea. So you're like really scoring
here on diversity and plow points.
And as I'm, as you're talking about this story, I am, my mouth

(07:13):
is salivating. And I'm sure many of our, our
listeners are. And I think that's what's really
exciting about this conversationis, yes, here's all the signs,
but also it's just making me feel quite joyful about food.
So it it brings me to a questionof what is your favorite dish?
Like what's your favorite spice dish?
Oh gosh, hard to choose. But I will say it is actually

(07:36):
kind of a chickpea Stew, but it's one that I concocted.
I took a bunch of flavors from all my favorite cuisines.
So it's kind of like a chana masala.
So it has like the same spices as a chana masala, like cumin,
coriander, turmeric, chili. It incorporates some tomato and
coconut milk from a Stew that I love in Brazil called mokeka.

(07:59):
And then it also has sumac because I think sumac is a super
underutilized spice. It's like when you sprinkle lime
or lemon on a dish, it's the same thing you put on sumac.
It's dry lime, dry lemon, not technically, but has the same
flavor, packed with antioxidants, packed with
anthocyanins, So easy to use even for a spice big, You know,
take your favorite hummus, your avocado toast, your favorite

(08:20):
salad and sprinkle some sumac on.
And so it's like this kind of chickpea Curry with coconut and
tomato and sumac and all the spices.
And I throw in some dandelion greens just for like added veg
and a little bit of that bitterness and I could eat that
every day. Wowza, that is what I'm going to
cook this weekend. That is delicious and I also

(08:40):
really agree. We haven't mentioned it, but I
am obsessed with sumac and it one does it just tastes
delicious. It's got like a real twang to
it, but also it looks great. So when you sprinkle it on the
hummus, it does just give it that bit bit of extra vibrancy,
which also looks quite nice whenyou're like laying a table for
guests to come round. It looks like you kind of even
if you even if you haven't made the Hamish yourself, you can

(09:01):
pretend by putting a bit of olive oil back and pretend that
you made it and. Look, and you know, I'm going to
challenge listeners because I know people feel intimidated
about how to start with spices. So say you're having a dinner
party and you have your salt andpepper on the table.
So guests can put a little bit of fresh pepper, add a little
cute little bowl of sumac with alittle spoon or even let guests

(09:22):
use their hands. If you know, if it's that kind
of party and people are going tosay, what is that?
And you're like, just like pepper, you would, you know, put
some black pepper on whatever your pasta.
You can sprinkle sumac on your salad or your soup.
It's like a squeeze of lemon or lime.
And I think we just need to makethese more accessible.
You know, when you're making anyhabit change, you want to make

(09:43):
it easy, fun, accessible and kind of the default choice.
So bring the spices from the back of your cupboard to the
front of your cupboard, put themon your table, entertain with
them and you'll before you know it, you'll be adding more of
their magic to your food everyday.
I love that I do that with chiliand paprika.
I have them on my next to my in like very cute little bowls and

(10:06):
I put them on there. So I'm just constantly adding.
As you can tell, I obviously like spicy food, adding them
always when I'm cooking and justhaving them out and open in a
bowl is actually a really great way, a bit like how you would
salt sometimes have that out andcook with it as well.
So I think that's a fantastic tip for so many listeners.
Similar to what I say, when people aren't hydrating enough,
if you you always have a bottle of water next to you, you're

(10:28):
visually going to have more because you're having an IQ to
tell you to drink water because you can see it.
So it's so similar with spices. So that is a fantastic,
fantastic tip. And Sarah, can I just add one
thing, which is I know that you love your listeners, love
science. There's some really interesting
observational studies that have looked at chili consumption and

(10:50):
all 'cause mortality. So people who tend to eat more
Chili Peppers seem to have lowerall cost mortality and greater
health span. And of course it's confounded by
the fact that they could be doing other things, although
studies control try to control for that.
But that's my justification for putting chilies on everything.
So I thought I'd share that. I love that.

(11:10):
And just in Case No one knows what all you know, mortality is
basically people aren't dying. People are living longer and
healthier. I love that.
I love chili and also I'm sorry for anyone who doesn't love
chili because it could be a genetic variant as well, because
I think Tim Specter twin study showed that actually there is a
genetic factor that if you like chilies.
So if you don't, I'm, I'm sorry,it could be down to your genes,

(11:31):
but. We have a tip for that though.
We always have a tip. The tip is give me a tip use
yes. If you don't like the hot
Peppers, you can use paprika. It's in the chili family and it
tends to be sweet. And then there's smoked paprika,
which you mentioned. So you're not going to get
exactly capsaicin, but you're going to get like a cousin,
which is a compound that is a cousin that has very similar

(11:54):
effects on the gut microbiome and anti antioxidant status.
So if you don't like heat, we don't judge you just embrace
paprika. We don't judge you, but you
won't like coming to my house for dinner because it's always
very spicy. But that and there's such a
wealth of evidence there. And I really hope and I know I
feel very inspired to even go out now and explore a bit more

(12:16):
with herbs. I want to say one of my
favourite herbs is the tar and spices, which I absolutely love.
And that's what I always sprinkle on ducker and the tar
kind of on any salad. So if you guys haven't heard of
that, that would be my recommendation to go and pop
into your super Buck supermarketbasket to add to your culinary
experience. But I think what's amazing about

(12:38):
this conversation is it's just getting people cooking because I
really feel like we're we're losing the love for it.
And I believe it's such an amazing thing to do for people
that you love and also a self love for yourself.
Don't wait to do this for other people.
Be compassionate towards yourself and think, what can I
go and do just for me this week?What is the one dish that I
could cook with spices that my body deserves?

(13:01):
Thanks so much for listening to hear the full episode.
There's a link in the description.