Dear heart disease, catch me if you cayenne! Recent study links hot peppers and longer life. Many people can’t get enough spicy food, especially George from Seinfeld. And now new research is showing that it might help ward off premature death. In a study published this week in PLoS ONE, scientists evaluated information from 16,000 patients who participated in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) III. They found that people who enjoyed red hot chili peppers (the food, not the band) had a 13-percent decrease in mortality rates—meaning they lived longer than those who passed on peppers. There was even a slight decrease in death from heart disease, the leading killer in the U.S. Even though we don’t know the exact reason why these peppers are helpful, it’s never too late to start chowing down on some!