Aaron Rodgers is an unorthodox player. Thus, he relies on unorthodox methods to prepare his mind and body for pro football in his fifth decade on this planet.
That’s led to offseason remedies like darkness retreats and a 12-day cleanse meant to purify his body by ridding it of toxins. In 2024, it’s been a little more simple. His key to playing through the strains and bruises that come with 18 sacks and countless more quarterback hits? Cayenne pepper and water.
“T-Mo [New York Jets punter Thomas Morstead] gave me a little fountain of youth he said he’s been taking for a while,” Rodgers told the Associated Press Tuesday after a 25-22 loss to the New England Patriots. “All legal, of course. … He’s been taking like cayenne pepper and water, so he gave me some before the game.
“Felt pretty good, but I’ve been kind of gassing him up that that’s why I’m feeling so good. I’m not sure how much that’s playing a factor.”
Cayenne pepper and water isn’t a new development. It’s been part of body cleanses long enough to be a joke in The Office. So is it the key to getting Rodgers through another season and playing into his age 41 season next year?
Probably not, but there are benefits.
Cayenne pepper and water is helpful, but isn’t a panacea — especially for a man getting routinely hit by 300-pound linemen
There are health benefits to hot peppers. Capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives spicy foods that heat, is a topical painkiller. Ingesting it can provide a minor metabolism boost. There may be cancer fighting effects as well, though the link between the two is still being examined.
The issue is, cayenne pepper and water isn’t going to help much with what’s ailing Rodgers. A capsaicin cream could help with the aches of a 17-game NFL schedule, but that’s not what he’s doing. Ingesting high-level hot peppers could help provide a small energy boost, but cayenne is fairly low on the Scoville scale, which measures heat generated.
If there’s a benefit, it’s likely from reduced inflammation and aided digestion, though even those links aren’t quite proven. Per the Cleveland Clinic, studies have shown animals with a high capsaicin diet have lower blood pressure and less inflammation than others. Humans who ate spicy foods were 13 percent less likely to die from heart disease than those who did not.
So, Rodgers is likely benefitting from better digestion and reduced inflammation. He may also be suffering fewer headaches and getting a solid amount of vitamin A, assuming he’s using powdered cayenne rather than the healthier, fresh version (that would be more difficult to mix with water). But he’d potentially be better off mixing in even hotter peppers to boost that capsaicin content, even if that meant scorching his tongue twice a day to get there.
Is Aaron Rodgers’s cayenne pepper drink the “fountain of youth” the 40-year-old quarterback suggests? Probably not, especially if he’s only been drinking it a few days. But it’s still good for him, and it could help with some of his ailments — even if it’s just a step in the right direction.
