[Christmas article: Can chili improve the performance of Santa Claus and goblins? A randomized study]

Many children expect a visit from Santa Claus, preferably on Christmas Eve and the teasing goblins are active teasing throughout the month of December. Therefore, Santa Claus and goblins must be in good shape for the activities of December. Rice pudding, Christmas pancakes, and other goodies are consumed in large quantities to help both the size of Santa Claus as well as the activity level of the Christmas teasing. Chili peppers and spicy foods contain the compound capsaicin, responsible for their heat and spiciness. Some research suggests that capsaicin may have potential benefits for physical function, although the evidence is not conclusive, and more studies are needed to fully understand its effects. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effect of chili supplementation on strength performance.

The study used a randomized, double-blind design. The subjects completed three plank tests measuring the maximum time before and after having pancakes including capsaicin or placebo. Pancake recipe for four persons was 500 g all-purpose flour, 10 dl milk, six eggs, half a teaspoon salt, 50 g melted butter, one teaspoon vanilla, one teaspoon cinnamon, one teaspoon ginger. For the intervention group one teaspoon chili was added. Vanilla, cinnamon and ginger blinded the taste of chili and the adding red tint blinded the visual of chili. When eating the pancakes, sugar and strawberry or blackcurrant jam were added.

In august 2023, four Santa Claus-sized Santas and four smaller teasing goblins met the inclusion criteria. There was an overall effect of chili Christmas pancakes compared to control in improving plank time from 111.7 (± 14.6) sec. to 156.3 (± 26.17) sec. (p = 0.043, paired t-test), compared to the change in the control group from 88.8 (± 14.7) sec. to 97.3 (± 19.7) sec. (p = 0.34, paired t-test). In the pooled sample of all eight participants there was evidence that the Christmas pancake meal by itself influenced a change in plank time from 100.2 (± 10.4) sec. to 126.8 (± 17.2) sec. (p = 0.025, paired t-test). However, all the goblins improved in plank time from 133.6 (± 12.5) sec. to 181.22 (± 22.7) sec. (p = 0.035, paired t-test), the Santas did not.

In this study, we found that adding chili to Christmas pancakes can improve plank test performance. However, the effect was not detectable for Santas. It was probably the best outcome of the test, that the goblins had a good impact eating chili Christmas pancakes. We therefore recommend that Santa Clauses and teasing goblins use chili in the Christmas pancakes to have the strength to solve the big Christmas tasks in December. It could also be a recommendation based on the literature to use chili in cooking in December, both to keep warm in the cold month of December and perhaps to avoid unnecessary excess weight.

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