Pepper health benefit Information by
Ray Sahelian,
M.D.
January 20 2016
Black
pepper (Piper nigrum) is a vine cultivated for its fruit, which is usually
dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The same pepper fruit is also
used to produce white pepper and green pepper. Black pepper is native to
South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical
regions. The pepper fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a five
millimeters in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single
seed.
Dried, ground pepper is one of the most common spices in European cuisine
and its descendants, having been known and prized since antiquity for both
its flavor and its use as a medicine. The spiciness of black pepper is due
to the chemical
piperine. Ground black peppercorn, usually referred to simply as
"pepper", may be found on nearly every dinner table in some parts of the
world. A trademarked form of piperine is called
Bioperine and is
available for sale as a supplement.
Capsaicin in Pepper
Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves. Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis. Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice. Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture. It also slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models. The mice ate the human equivalent of 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week. That is about the amount found in three to eight fresh habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are.
Alzheimer's
disease
Cell Mol Neurobiol. Jan 19 2014. Methanolic Extract of Piper nigrum Fruits
Improves Memory Impairment by Decreasing Brain Oxidative Stress in Amyloid
Beta(1-42) Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease. The present study analyzed the
possible memory-enhancing and antioxidant proprieties of the methanolic extract
of Piper nigrum L. fruits (50 and 100 mg/kg, orally, for 21 days) in amyloid
beta(1-42) rat model of Alzheimer's disease. The memory-enhancing effects of the
plant extract were studied by means of in vivo (Y-maze and radial arm-maze
tasks) approaches. Also, the antioxidant activity in the hippocampus was
assessed using superoxide dismutase-, catalase-, glutathione peroxidase-specific
activities and the total content of reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, and
protein carbonyl levels. The amyloid beta(1-42)-treated rats exhibited the
following: decrease of spontaneous alternations percentage within Y-maze task
and increase of working memory and reference memory errors within radial
arm-maze task. Administration of the plant extract significantly improved memory
performance and exhibited antioxidant potential. Our results suggest that the
plant extract ameliorates amyloid beta(1-42)-induced spatial memory impairment
by attenuation of the oxidative stress in the rat hippocampus.
Weight loss
A chemical found in chili peppers that is being touted as a weight loss aid may
not be as useful as its manufacturer would like people to think. Japanese food
maker Ajinomoto claims that this chemical-called dihydrocapsiate-is "a great
tool for weight management" that helps people burn calories. However,
researchers found no change in body weight and only a small increase of around
50 more calories burned per day after people took a pill containing the
compound. They also did not find a significantly larger effect in high doses of
dihydrocapsiate, for which they had chosen a goal of 75 calories burned per day.
Scientists and nutritionists are interested in dihydrocapsiate as a dietary
supplement because it is closely related to capsaicin, another chemical found in
peppers. Capsaicin has already been shown to help increase metabolism, but
because it is has an extremely hot taste, the less pungent dihydrocapsiate could
provide an alternative. Researchers gave 78 healthy men a pill with 0, 3, or 9
milligrams of dihydrocapsiate once a day for 4 weeks. Ajinomoto's recommended
daily dose for Capsiate Natura contains 3 milligrams of dihydrocapsiate, or the
equivalent of 10 cayenne peppers. Capsiate Natura is only available in the U.S.
through doctors-it's not yet available over the counter. Eric Ravussin, lead
author of the study and researcher at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said that his findings suggest the effects of
dihydrocapsiate are negligible. Even with an increase in metabolism by 50
calories, any weight loss would offset it. American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, 2010.
Press release 2008 - OmniActive
Launches Hot Red Pepper Weight Management Ingredient, Capsimax Plus Blend
OmniActive Health Technologies, Inc., a supplier of active nutritional
ingredients, announces the launch of a proprietary blend of Capsimax,
its capsicum, or hot red pepper, ingredient. Capsimax Plus Blend is a
combination of natural ingredients including Capsimax Capsicum Fruit Extract,
and may increase the amount of calories burned before,
during and after exercise. Other ingredients in Capsimax Plus Blend
include the thermogenic agents caffeine and black
pepper extract, as well as niacin (vitamin B-3), necessary for converting food
into energy. The finished dietary supplement X12 containing Capsimax Plus
Blend can be found at GNC stores nationwide.
Capsimax Plus Blend was the subject of a recent double-blind, randomized,
placebo-controlled cross-over study conducted by the Biophysics Laboratory,
Department of Health and Exercise Science at the University of Oklahoma to
research its effect on calorie burning in exercising individuals. Researchers
found that when subjects took Capsimax Plus Blend one hour prior to exercising
on a treadmill, they burned more calories before, during, and after exercise
compared to when they took a placebo.
Food coloring
J Food Sci Technol. 2015. Red pepper (Capsicum annuum) carotenoids as a source
of natural food colors: analysis and stability-a review. Carotenoids are
increasingly drawing the attention of researchers as a major natural food color
due to their inherent nutritional characteristics and the implicated possible
role in prevention and protection against degenerative diseases. In this report,
we review the role of red pepper as a source for natural carotenoids. The
composition of the carotenoids in red pepper and the application of different
methodologies for their analysis were discussed in this report. The stability of
red pepper carotenoids during post-harvest processing and storage is also
reviewed. This review highlights the potential of red pepper carotenoids as a
source of natural food colors and also discusses the need for a standardized
approach for the analysis and reporting of composition of carotenoids in plant
products and designing model systems for stability studies.