Capsiate is a non-pungent analogue of capsaicin, the component of hot peppers that makes them hot or spicy. Unlike capsaicin, capsiate is not spicy or hot. Ingestion of capsiate has been shown to increase resting oxygen consumption, body temperature, and the burning of fat. As such, capsiate appears to act in a manner similar to that of many other substances that energize us, increase our alertness and cause a rushing feeling by affecting a system in our body that is responsible for the release of adrenaline. The major difference, however, is that capsiate is broken down in the stomach into two components: vanilla and a fatty acid, and is not absorbed as capsiate into the blood stream at all. This implies that the way capsiate works is likely by acting on the cells in the gut (before it is broken down)rather than affecting all other cells in the body as it would do if it ended up in the blood. Therefore, the gut cells are thought to be the ones responsible for triggering the full-body adrenaline response. In any case, the use of capsiate has been shown to be effective in preventing weight gain and as such it may represent a possible therapy for treating obesity. Many obesity-related programs not involving medication advocate the use of diet and/or exercise. However, one of the biggest problems with weight loss from dieting alone is a general decrease in our body's ability to burn the food we eat as energy. This very problem is the reason for why people turn to adrenaline-releasing drugs like caffeine and ephedra. Unfortunately though, if too much is consumed, there is a high risk of bad side-effects. However, low dose caffeine/ephedra compounds (that are within specified FDA limits) have recently been reported to be effective. Moreover, these compounds are used with great frequency by people attempting to lose weight.

Given that capsiate increases body temperature, promotes the burning of body fat and has an exceptionally great side-effect profile, it looks to be a very effective supplement for use in treatment of obesity and overweight. As such, it would be important to test this supplement along with exercise. This is because consuming capsiate with exercise may enhance its effectiveness in increasing the burning of body fat. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the response of young healthy males to a 90 minute bout of moderate intensity cycling after having consumed 0 mg, 3 mg, or 10 mg of capsiate.