• What are demerits of consuming Pseudo Spices like onion, garlic, chillies. How do chillies affect human health? What are the Neurological Effects of Chillies? How does Ayurveda Classifify Spices? How do Digestive Disorders affect human health? How are Digestive Complaints treated? 

To read Part 1 History of Spices. It included spices were integral to medicine, ritual offerings (yajña), preservation of food, and daily sustenance. To read Part 2 The Science behind Indian Spices . Spices were used for digestion, circulation, respiration, metabolism, preservation. They functioned as regulators of how food is absorbed not only taste.

Over the years, one pattern has repeatedly appeared in my work with people struggling with digestive issues: their health begins to improve when their food becomes simpler. When a few habitual ingredients are removed and a few nourishing ones added, the digestive system often stabilizes in surprisingly short time.

My own experience of recovering from a debilitating digestive disorder three decades ago first brought this pattern to my attention. Later, while working with others, I began noticing the same trend repeatedly. Certain commonly used ingredients—particularly chillies, onions, garlic and vinegar—often behaved like persistent irritants, while many traditional herbs and mild spices seemed to support recovery and balance.

This observation gradually led me to explore the deeper story of spices in Indian food culture. The result is the spice trilogy, ending with what I call “pseudo spices”—ingredients that dominate modern cooking but may not always support digestive health in the way we assume.

What makes this topic particularly interesting is a paradox I encounter frequently. People often say, “I suffer from acidity,” or “I cannot tolerate spicy food.” yet when I suggest reducing these very ingredients, the idea is often met with a quiet resistance. Much of this comes from the widespread belief that food has no flavour without these ingredients. Whereas my experience tells that these ingredients not just mask the real taste of food, they also mislead our digestive juices!

I hope that a deeper understanding of their nature may help readers make informed decisions about their personal food habits.

Leaving aside some traditional homes where original cooking methods are still followed, what we imagine today as a “spicy dish” is often very different from traditional spice use. In the majority of Indian homes, spices are not the primary ingredients—pseudo spices are. When we think of spicy food, we usually visualise a masala curry, which is largely built on onion-ginger-garlic-chilli paste, with actual spices added as supporting elements.

Let us begin with the most extensively—and often abusively—used “spice”: the chilli.

The Global Journey of Chillies

Chillies originated in Central and South America. Indigenous civilizations such as the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas used them extensively as food, medicine and ritual substance. Archaeological evidence shows chilli use as early as 7000–5000 BCE. By the time Europeans arrived chillies were deeply embedded in everyday cooking across the Americas.

Christopher Columbus encountered chillies in the Caribbean in 1492. They quickly attracted European interest because they were cheap to grow, intensely flavourful, helped preserve food, warmed the body in cold climates, and served as a practical substitute for expensive black pepper.

From Europe, chillies spread rapidly across Asia through colonial maritime trade. Within roughly 100–150 years they reached India (via Goa and the Malabar Coast), Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and southern China—one of the fastest global dispersals of any food plant in history.

The lower cost of chillies gradually nudged aside India’s sophisticated spice culture based on black pepper, long pepper (pippali), ginger and mustard. Over time, India itself became a centre of chilli diversification, producing countless local varieties.

Today, although India is the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of chillies, the country did not know this plant until about 500 years ago. Yet Indians now possessively claim chillies as their own!

Chillies in Ayurveda and Digestive Health

Putting history aside, how do chillies affect human health?

Since Ayurveda’s foundational texts predate the 16th-century arrival of chillies in India, they are absent from classical works such as the Caraka Saṃhitā, Suśruta Saṃhitā and Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya. After chillies became common, later Ayurvedic scholars interpreted them through the existing framework of rasa (taste), guṇa (qualities), vīrya (potency), vipāka (post-digestive effect) and dōṣa.

Ayurveda cautions against their habitual use because chillies provoke pitta, dry and destabilize vāta, overstimulate samāna prāṇa, and disturb prāṇa–apāna coordination. This imbalance can manifest as hyperacidity, burning sensations, gastritis-like symptoms, gas, bloating and irregular digestion. At the same time, chillies can weaken Agni by overstimulating the digestive fire until it eventually burns out. When digestion becomes erratic in this way, the body begins to accumulate āma (metabolic toxins).

Ayurveda therefore warns against confusing temporary stimulation with true digestive strength—an insight that resonates strongly with modern understanding of neurobiology, gut-brain signalling and chronic sensory overstimulation.

Neurological Effects of Chillies

Chilli heat is not a taste—it is a pain signal. Chillies do not stimulate taste buds; they activate pain receptors. The active compound capsaicin binds to TRPV1 receptors (Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-1), which normally detect heat, burning, tissue irritation and potential injury. When chilli is consumed, the nervous system is effectively being told that something hot or damaging is happening. In other words, the brain interprets chilli as a controlled injury.

Short-term effects

When capsaicin activates TRPV1 receptors, the body responds through a predictable cascade:

Peripheral nervous system

a. Activation of nociceptive (pain) fibres

b. Release of substance P (pain neurotransmitter)

c. Local vasodilation, producing redness and warmth.

Central nervous system

a. Release of endorphins (natural opioids)

b. Dopamine release, creating a reward–relief cycle

c. Temporary mood elevation or “rush”.

This explains why chilli can feel energizing and why its heat can become habit-forming.

Long-term effects

Chronic exposure can cause neural irritation, leading to:

a. hyper-responsiveness of pain pathways

b. lower thresholds for irritation

c. increased visceral sensitivity.

These patterns are strongly associated with functional gut disorders, anxiety-linked digestive symptoms and heightened stress reactivity. In Ayurvedic language, this parallels pitta aggravation and vāta destabilization.

Initially, capsaicin increases substance P; with repeated exposure, substance P becomes depleted and nerve responses become desensitized and imbalanced. This can result in reduced gut-sensation accuracy, delayed warning signals and dysregulated hunger or satiety cues. People often mistake this numbness for “tolerance”.

Many individuals therefore tolerate chillies while quietly accumulating acid load, inflammation and nervous exhaustion. For people with already sensitive nervous systems, chilli is experienced not as exciting heat but as an unnecessary internal threat. The nervous system becomes protective rather than receptive.

What modern science describes as TRPV1 over-activation and autonomic imbalance, Ayurveda describes as Agni being provoked rather than nourished.

Removing chillies from the diet is therefore not deprivation but neurological kindness. When stimulation is reduced, the body remembers how to regulate itself. The narrative shifts from “I cannot tolerate spicy food” to “my body is relearning balance.”

Alliums: Onion and Garlic

Onion, garlic, leek, shallot, spring onion and chives belong to the botanical genus

Allium in the Amaryllidaceae family. All share similar chemical characteristics. Their pungent taste and smell come from sulphur compounds released when the plant tissue is cut or crushed—chemicals that evolved primarily as defence mechanisms against insects and microbes.

Although alliums contain prebiotic fibres, antioxidants such as quercetin, and antimicrobial sulphur compounds, they are not nutritionally indispensable. In many individuals their regular use can contribute to gas, bloating and digestive irritation, particularly in sensitive digestive systems or among people with FODMAP-related disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.

Interestingly, several traditional Indian dietary systems avoid alliums entirely, including certain yogic traditions, monastic diets and Jain cuisine. These traditions classify onion and garlic as tamasic or overly stimulating foods that disturb mental clarity and digestive balance.

The Ayurvedic Classification of Spices

Ayurveda broadly categorizes foods according to their influence on body and mind.

Sāttvic
These spices gently enhance digestion, calm the nervous system and promote balance and clarity. They are suitable for daily use and often appear in ritual food (prasādam) and convalescent diets. Examples include coriander, fennel, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon and fresh ginger (in moderation).

Rājasic
These substances strongly stimulate digestion, heat and circulation, exciting the nervous system. They may be used medicinally in small quantities or in cold seasons. Examples include black pepper, dry ginger, long pepper (pippalī), clove, mustard seeds and asafoetida (hiṅg).

Tāmasic
Chillies, garlic, onions and excessively fried or burnt spices are generally avoided because they dull perception, overstimulate prāṇa and disturb mental steadiness.

Digestive Disease: A Global Concern

A 2023 study titled “Global, Regional, and National Burden of 10 Digestive Diseases in 204 Countries and Territories from 1990 to 2019” found digestive disorders to be among the most prevalent health problems worldwide. Conditions such as gastritis, ulcers, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD), liver disease and pancreatitis collectively affected an estimated 2.28 billion people globally in 2019—nearly one-quarter of the world’s population.

Digestive disorders do not affect the gut alone. Research increasingly shows that impaired digestion contributes to nutritional deficiencies, immune dysfunction, metabolic disorders and systemic inflammation.

The digestive system does far more than break food down. It absorbs nutrients, supports immune defences, and interacts closely with the microbiome and metabolic pathways. When gut function deteriorates, nutrient absorption suffers and chronic inflammation can contribute to conditions such as fatty liver disease and other systemic disorders.

Rethinking Habitual Irritants

In sensitive nervous systems, strong tastes—very sour, very spicy or intensely pungent—often act as stimulants and physiological stressors. My clinical experience of more than two decades suggests that nearly half of common digestive complaints improve simply by removing chillies, alliums and vinegar from daily diets.

The remaining issues can be resolved through:

1. whole foods

2. dietary diversity and fibre

3. physical activity

4. mental stillness and stress regulation

5. avoiding ultra-processed foods

6. consistent meal timing and sleep rhythms.

There is also a common belief that vinegar aids digestion. Yet the stomach already produces hydrochloric acid with a pH of about 1–2, which is far stronger than vinegar. If digestion is healthy, additional acid is unnecessary; if digestion is weak, the problem is regulatory rather than a lack of dietary acid.

Frequent vinegar use may erode dental enamel, irritate the throat and oesophagus, aggravate reflux and, in excessive amounts, potentially affect potassium levels. In this sense, vinegar resembles chilli—stimulating and sometimes irritating, but not metabolically essential.

Conclusion

Onions, garlic and chillies are not required to meet human nutritional needs. The nutrients present in alliums are readily available from many other vegetables, and none of these ingredients are biologically indispensable.

Across cultures and historical periods, large communities have lived well without them, and chillies themselves entered Indian cuisine only a few centuries ago. Human health and longevity have never depended on them.

Although some arguments favour their prebiotic or microbiome-supporting properties, yet, over time they may also weaken the digestive system and worsen digestive health.

This does not mean these ingredients must disappear from everyone’s kitchen. Food habits are deeply personal and shaped by culture, taste and tradition. But it may be worth reconsidering how central these substances have become in everyday cooking. Sometimes the simplest experiment is also the most revealing: to temporarily remove habitual stimulants and allow the body to rediscover its own rhythms of digestion and balance.

In the end, the question is not whether these ingredients are good or bad, but whether our bodies are quietly asking for something gentler. Also, their use remains a matter of personal choice—but one that is best made with awareness.

Anuradha Vashisht    is a natural health educationist who has been promoting preventive health care through her Health Nectar initiative for over two decades. She guides individuals to restore and enhance their well-being naturally—through the adoption of holistic health concepts, mindful nutrition, and lifestyle transformation.

Anuradha is trained under Acharya Seshadri Swaminathan, the foremost and most devoted disciple of Acharya Lakshmana Sarma, revered as the Father of Nature Cure in India. She can be reached at reach.healthnectar@gmail.com

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