16 Cayenne Pepper Health Benefits
Cayenne peppers were first grown and harvested by the natives in the Caribbean and the trading of spice began when Columbus found the Caribbean islands. There were different kinds of cayenne peppers that were grown by Arabs and the Chinese that were traded to the Europeans as well. While cayenne pepper is most popular for making foods spicy, cayenne pepper health benefits are also something to keep in mind the next time you use this food.
Cayenne Pepper Health Benefits
Cayenne peppers can be purchased fresh or powdered
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Weight Loss
It is unsure of how it happens, but cayenne pepper can suppress hunger and leave you feeling fuller for longer. One supposed way of how cayenne pepper helps with this is by lessening how much of the hormone ghrelin is made. Ghrelin is a hormone that alerts you to hunger.
On top of that, if you add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to a meal, it can help you to burn calories, or help you not to retain some the calories.
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Digestion
Cayenne pepper health benefits really shine when it comes to helping your intestines to keep things moving. It moves enzymes to the stomach, fights against infections you can get in the digestive tract, and it can increase the secretion fluids that help with digestion.
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Metabolism
Capsaicin is something that can boost your metabolism fairly well. It should be noted, however, that cayenne pepper does not have an abundance of capsaicin so the effect that cayenne pepper has on your metabolism can be kind of minor. Still, a minor positive impact is better than no impact!
The healthier your metabolism, the easier it will be for you to lose weight
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Blood Pressure
Like the capsaicin can help with metabolism, it can also lower your blood pressure. The capsaicin does this by relaxing the blood vessels so that they can flow easier.
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Cancer
Capsaicin, again, comes to the rescue. Cancer is cell growth gone wrong. Well, capsaicin can stop the spreading of cancer by fighting the varying paths that cause cancer to spread. The cancers that cayenne pepper have been found to help with are. pancreatic, prostate, and skin cancer.
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Pain Relief
If you suffer from pain in your lower back, from shingles, joint and muscle pain, or pain from a surgery, you can add powdered cayenne pepper to a lotion and rub it into your skin where it hurts. Different components in the cayenne pepper can stop or weaken the pain signals to the brain.
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Psoriasis
Psoriasis is a form of an autoimmune disease that appears as itchy, flakey, red splashes of skin. You can add powdered cayenne to a lotion and rub into the affected area. Doing this, it has been found, can soothe some of the itching and redness. While psoriasis does not yet have a cure, using this cayenne pepper health benefit can help to reduce the symptoms.
Use finely ground cayenne pepper powder when mixing cayenne with lotion
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Stuffy Nose
Stuffy noses are enough to make anyone miserable, but cayenne pepper can help quite a bit. You can sprinkle some cayenne pepper on your food and it should trigger mucus release from your airways and leave them open so you can breathe easier. This is likely to cause a burning sensation at first, but that should fade as your nose clears up.
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Improve Blood Circulation
The capsaicin that keeps coming up can increase the circulation of your blood. By lowering your blood pressure. Remember how the capsaicin relaxes the blood vessels? Well as it turns out, relaxed blood vessels flow easier that constricted ones do.
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Vitamin A
Vitamin A is amazing for your body in so many different ways. Cayenne pepper, because of the vitamin A, can reduce inflammation, keep your skin healthy, strengthen your immune system, help your eyes to stay strong, contributes to cell growth, and kills free radicals.
Bell pepper also contain vitamin A
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Less Irritation
Irritation is really rather broad, but it should be for this. Cayenne pepper can stop a lot of things are qualified as annoying. So, including cayenne pepper in your meals can ease diarrhea, the secretion of different acids, headaches, upset stomachs, and can even help ulcers to heal faster.
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Vitamin E
Vitamin E is great for a plethora of things and comes in a decent amount in cayenne pepper. This helpful vitamin fights and kills free radicals balances hormones, balances cholesterol, and repairs skin and hair.
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Saliva
This one might sound a little odd, but saliva can actually attribute to good oral health. Cayenne pepper increases the amount of saliva produced.
Another spice that can help to improve oral health is cinnamon
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Longer Life
Oddly enough, cayenne peppers (and chili peppers) have been found to actually increase the length of a person’s life. With all of the cayenne pepper health benefits, a life can be longer because of the lowered chances of cancer, respiratory issues, and heart problems.
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Skin
Adding cayenne pepper to lotions has been mentioned a couple of times, but this one is really amazing. You can make a poultice with cayenne pepper that will help to heal sores, snake bites, rheumatism, and minor wounds.
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Allergies
Reducing inflammation in the sinuses is one of the best ways to stop or lessen allergies. With the anti-inflammation that cayenne pepper helps with, it can lessen allergies.
If you have allergy symptoms often (due to dust or pollen) then you may have hay fever
While some cayenne pepper can help, too much can actually make you feel ill and give you stomach aches. Too much capsaicin can make you cough. As a side note, you should also talk to your doctor if you are on blood thinners before trying to use cayenne pepper as a form of medicine rather than a spice.
Sources
https://www.naturalfoodseries.com/11-health-benefits-cayenne-pepper/
https://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/benefits-of-cayenne-pepper/
https://www.rd.com/health/conditions/health-benefits-cayenne-pepper/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/8-benefits-of-cayenne-pepper#section2
