Tabasco sauce: nutritional value, benefits, and risks if you eat too much

For those of you who love Western food, you must be familiar with Tabasco sauce, which tastes quite spicy and a little sour. Tabasco is usually used as a friend to eat steak or pasta. Are you curious, does Tabasco sauce contain the same health benefits as chilli in local Indonesian spicy food? Or is it the opposite, is it bad for health?

Nutritional value in tabasco sauce

Tabasco sauce itself is actually almost the same as chili sauce or packaged soy sauce that you consume every day. Tabasco sauce itself is made from a mixture of vinegar, salt, and chili.

This sauce does not contain any special nutrients and does not have many calories. One teaspoon of this sauce contains only 1 calorie. This red sauce does not contain carbohydrates, fat or protein.

Is Tabasco sauce beneficial for health?

One of the basic ingredients for making tabasco sauce is chili. The active ingredient that makes chilies taste hot, capsaicin, has its own health benefits.

In several studies, such as research reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, states that consumption of capsaicin can help reduce high cholesterol levels, so it is good for the heart. While other studies report that capsaicin can reduce pain and help you lose weight.

The capsaicin in chilies is similar to a compound found in many decongestant medicinal herbs. The spicier your chili sauce, the runny your nose will be. This effect can relieve the symptoms of colds and flu, as well as sinusitis.

Therefore, there are some people who think that consuming tabasco sauce can also have a good impact on health because it contains capsaicin. However, until now, there is no scientific evidence that states that tabasco itself is good for daily consumption for health.

Then, is Tabasco sauce safe to consume frequently?

The biggest content in Tabasco sauce is sodium, aka salt. So, this sauce is not recommended to be used every time you eat. Moreover, if you have high blood pressure. Too much salt intake can increase blood pressure.

The recommended daily intake of sodium for healthy people with no history of high blood pressure or heart disease is less than 2300 mg per day. If you consume too much tabasco, this will increase your total sodium intake in one day. Not to mention calculating your salt intake from other foods that you consume that day.

Meanwhile, for those of you who have high blood pressure or certain chronic diseases, the maximum limit of your daily sodium intake will usually be adjusted, depending on your current health condition. To find out more details, you can consult a nutritionist and ask about the right diet for you.