Everyone knows that eating too much salt is bad for your health. However, no one mentions the potential impact of black pepper, another seasoning in the clute set. Does it affect your health?
Indeed, timeless people have thought so.Black pepper, dried berries Pipe Nigram The vine has been part of traditional Indian (Ayurvedic) medicine for thousands of years. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that it has a “driving” characteristic. In other words, it relieves flatulence.
And in traditional herbal medicine, black pepper is used to treat epilepsy.
Modern science suggests that black pepper actually brings health benefits, primarily as a result of an alkaloid called piperine. It is a chemical that gives pepper a pungent flavor and strong antioxidants.
Antioxidants are molecules that remove harmful substances called “free radicals.” Unhealthy diet, excessive sun exposure, alcohol and smoking can increase the number of free radicals in the body.
An excess of these unstable molecules can damage cells, accelerate people’s aging, and cause a variety of health problems such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes.
Laboratory studies in animals and cells have shown that piperine neutralizes these free radicals. In one study, rats were divided into groups, some were fed a normal diet and others were fed a high-fat diet.
One group of rats was fed a high-fat diet supplemented with black pepper, and another group of rats was fed a high-fat diet supplemented with piperine.
Rats fed a high-fat diet supplemented with black pepper or piperine had significantly fewer markers of free radical damage than rats freshly fed a high-fat diet. In fact, the markers of free radical damage were comparable to rats fed a normal diet.
Piperine also has anti-inflammatory properties. Chronic inflammation is associated with a variety of diseases, including autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Again, animal studies have shown that piperine reduces inflammation and pain in arthritic rats.
Black pepper also helps the body better absorb certain beneficial compounds, such as resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, berries, and peanuts. Studies show that resveratrol has the potential to prevent heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.
The problem with resveratrol, however, is that it tends to fall apart before the intestines absorb it into the bloodstream. However, black pepper has been shown to increase the “bioavailability” of resveratrol. In other words, many of them are available for use by the body.
Black pepper may also improve the absorption of curcumin, the active ingredient in the popular anti-inflammatory spice meric. Scientists have found that taking 20 mg of piperine with 2 g of curcumin increases the availability of human curcumin by 2,000%.
Other studies have shown that black pepper improves the absorption of beta-carotene, a compound found in vegetables and fruits, and the body converts it to vitamin A. Beta-carotene acts as a powerful antioxidant that fights cell damage.
Studies have shown that taking 15 mg of beta-carotene and 5 mg of piperine significantly increased blood levels of beta-carotene compared to taking beta-carotene alone.
Piperine and cancer
Black pepper may also have the property of fighting cancer. In vitro studies have found that piperine reduced the regeneration of breast, prostate, and colon cancer cells and promoted the death of cancer cells.
Researchers have compared 55 compounds from different spices and found that piperine is most effective in increasing the effectiveness of typical treatments for triple-negative breast cancer (the most aggressive type of cancer). discovered.
Piperine also has the promising effect of minimizing multidrug resistance in cancer cells and may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
However, you need to be careful. All of this is fairly uncertain, as most studies are done in cell cultures or animals. And these kinds of experiments are not always “translated” by humans.
However, you can be fairly convinced that adding some extra crushed pepper to your food is unlikely to harm you and may be beneficial.
Laura brownSenior Lecturer in Nutrition, Food and Health Sciences, Teesside University
This article will be republished from conversation Under a Creative Commons license.read Original work..
