Chili pepper consumption associated with 25% reduction in death from any cause
A lot of people point out “correlation is not causation” for studies like this; but to really <i>internalize</i> that point, I like to try to come up with reverse-causation hypotheses for the same data.<p>For example: what if people with any kind of chronic inflammation in their bodies (i.e. high disease load), are less able to tolerate spicy food?<p>I’m not saying this is a true or even likely hypothesis; just that it’s no less worthy of being <i>considered as a hypothesis</i> than “capsaicin promotes longevity” is; and so thinking about it can get you out of the frame of mind where reading a headline like the above one, makes you automatically <i>internalize</i> the headline as if “capsaicin promotes longevity” was what it said.