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Spices have been a part of our diets for thousands of years – it’s second nature to sprinkle our chips with pepper, sip on ginger tea and add chillies to our meals. But recently, some spices have been unofficially promoted from everyday culinary staples to all-healing superfoods.Hillary Clinton reportedly ate one chilli pepper a day while on the campaign trail in an attempt to ward off illness. Turmeric, which has been used in Asia for millennia, recently has found its way into coffee shops around the world in the form of “golden lattes” – and, most recently, into viral messages that claim it can “boost your immune system” and protect you from getting sick. Meanwhile, cayenne pepper still hasn’t recovered since the ill-advised “Beyoncé diet” back in 2013, which suggested consuming a concoction of cayenne pepper, maple syrup, lemon and water to lose weight.But do spices really add any health benefits to our food, or help us ward off illness? And can any of them actually do us harm?