Chilies have been hailed as a holy grail food by many for its flavor and mythic health properties. Now, researches in Italy have found that consuming chilies as a part of your regular diet can lower the risk of death from stroke and heart disease.

Researchers monitored almost 23,000 people’s health status and eating habits for over eight years. Using data pulled from the Moli-sani study which has 25,000 participants from the Molise region of southern Italy. The study found that the risk of dying from a heart attack was lower by a whopping 40 percent among the participants who reported eating chili peppers four times a week at least. The risk of death from stroke was lowered by over 50 percent.

It doesn’t matter what else you eat, as long as you eat chili peppers.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and demonstrated that regardless of what the individual’s broader diet was, simply the inclusion of chili peppers reduced the potential risk.

Similar studies in the United States and China show that chiles are good for your health.

So what makes these peppers slap so hard? It’s scientific.

It’s all about the spice. Peppers high capsaicin, like the spicy Carolina Reaper, were the ones that lowered the death risks in study participants.

“In general the association of sweet peppers with mortality were less strong than the ones of chili peppers, suggesting a role for capsaicin,” Bonaccio said.

Other peppers, like sweet bell peppers, which are low in capsaicin due to a recessive gene were less beneficial.

 “In a large adult Mediterranean population, regular consumption of chili pepper is associated with a lower risk of total and CVD death independent of CVD risk factors or adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Known biomarkers of CVD risk only marginally mediate the association of chili pepper intake with mortality,” the study concluded. 

However, skeptics are less enthusiastic about finding the study conclusive. Duane Mellor, a dietitian at Aston Medical School in the United Kingdom told CNN the study “does not show a causal link.” 

“This type of relationship suggests that chilies may be just a marker for some other dietary or lifestyle factor that hasn’t been accounted for but, to be fair, this kind of uncertainty is usually present in epidemiological studies, and the authors do acknowledge this,” Ian Johnson, a nutrition researcher, told CNN.

More research is needed because other factors could contribute to the observed effect, however, three studies in three different countries with very large samples are highly suggestive of the chilies’ benefits. 

Halloween, aka every candy lover’s favorite holiday, is almost upon us. If you live in Arizona, California, or Florida, you’re probably dreaming about Skittles. Seriously. A ranking of the most popular Halloween candy in every state (and Washington, D.C) was released by Candystore.com, and let’s just say the results are pretty sweet.

Shoppers will spend an estimated $2.6 billion on Halloween candy this year, according to the National Retail Federation, so the online candy retailer partnered with major candy manufacturers and distributors to conclude which treats would be the biggest hits. The rankings are based on 12 years of sales data, taken from 2007 to 2018, with a focus on the months leading up to Halloween.

Some of the results are surprising.

Who knew salt water taffy would be popular in Nebraska, Washington, and Wyoming? Or even at all, especially when my personal favorite, Nestlé Crunch bars, are missing from the list entirely.

The infamous (depending on who you ask) seasonal favorite candy corn claims top honors in more than one state.

Meaning there’s something seriously wrong with several states, including New Mexico and Idaho. While residents in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Tennessee seem to be interested in how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

In addition to state rankings, Candystore.com also released a list of the most popular Halloween candy in the U.S. overall.

Skittles takes the No. 1 spot, followed by Reese’s Cups, M&M’s, and Snickers. They are followed by, Starburst, candy corn, Hot Tamales, Tootsie Pops, and Sour Patch Kids. And finally, in 10th place, Hershey’s.

Check out the full list of favorites broken down by state, below. 

This map outlines what we’ve been saying all along…some states really are just better than others.

Pulling together 12 years of candy sales data, CandyStore.com has put together a map of each state’s favorite Haloween candy based on actual sales. This is important information if you don’t want to become your neighborhood’s dental floss people.

Alabama has a serious obsession with Hershey’s Miniatures.

There’s nothing small about how much the people of Alabama love Hershey’s Miniatures. Close to 50,000 pounds of the candy is sold in the state to pass out to trick-or-treaters.

While Arizona doesn’t seem to think it’s hot enough…

As if parts of Arizona aren’t already hot enough, the most popular Halloween candy in the state is Hot Tamales with just over 750,000 pounds sold. The cinnamon-flavored candy barely beat out second place Snickers, which comes in at about 742,000 pounds.

And, as usual, California is a trend setter among the 50 US states.

Skittles are the most popular Halloween candy in the United States, so it only makes sense it’s the biggest candy in the most populous state. Over 1.5 million pounds of Skittles are sold in Californiaalone on average each year.

Meanwhile, in Texas they go crazy for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the appetite for Halloween candy. Just how much of its No. 1 candy do Texans buy? More than 1 million pounds of Reese’s.

All of this is great info, but we can’t help but wonder what the map would look like if Latino candys were included…?

Like, I’m pretty certain that there would be plenty of Latino favorites included in the map. A few that come to mind would be the beloved/much maligned mazapán, Duvalin, or Lucas.

What would your list look like?