The Medicinal Pepper

Capsaicin Acts as a Pesticide

ebedwards — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 23:33:32 +0000

Capsaicin is a natural chemical found in hot peppers and other members of the capsicum family. The highest amounts of capsaicin reside where the seeds attach to the inner membrane of the hot pepper. The amount of capsaicin in hot peppers depends on variety. Exposure to capsaicin causes a disruption to your nervous system and is highly irritating to the eyes, nose, skin and lungs. According to the National Pesticide Information Center, the Environmental Protection Agency labels capsaicin a biochemical pesticide.

Warning: This Product May Cause Rectal Burning

ebedwards — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:43:25 +0000

Rectal Burning

As the hot peppers progress through your digestive tract, they can continue to retain some of the burning ingredients that makes them hot in the first place. This can cause a painful, burning sensation in your rectum as you pass stools containing any type of hot pepper waste. Although this side effect does not classify as serious, it can cause discomfort for a few days. Once your body acclimates to the inclusion of red peppers in your diet, this side effect may cease or decrease.

As a corollary, one might assume that if one has hemorrhoids and one regularly ingests hot peppers that the analgesic effect will kick in and sooth the discomfort associated with said piles.

Capsaicin Solution Relives “Katrina Cough”

ebedwards — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:54:26 +0000

Hurricane Katrina victims have called upon SiCap Industries, makers of the world’s first “Hot Pepper Nasal Spray,” to help put an end to the dreaded “Katrina Cough”.

Read the entire article here.

“Smokem Out of Their Caves”

ebedwards — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:29:56 +0000

Instead of using Bunker Busters in Afghanistan, George Bush should have used tear gas-like Bhut-Jolokia filled hand grenades to immobilize suspected terrorists. Though nontoxic, the potent pepper causes people to choke, forcing them out of their hiding places. We may have been able to capture or kill Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora back in December 2001 and saved trillions of taxpayer dollars.

Read the entire article here. And another here.

Hot Pepper Extracts Shown to Reduce Lipid Peroxidation in Brain Tissue.

ebedwards — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:51:15 +0000

Researchers have known that free radical-mediated neurodegenerative diseases can be prevented through the consumption of food rich in antioxidants. Researchers have shown that aqueous extracts of ripe and unripe Capsicum annum, Tepin (CAT) and Capsicum chinese, Habanero (CCH) can prevent lipid peroxidation induced by sodium nitroprusside and quinolinic acid in rat brain in vitro. In fact, unripe CAT caused the highest inhibition of sodium nitroprusside-induced lipid peroxidation, while unripe CCH caused the least inhibition. The unripe CAT and CCH peppers had a significantly higher inhibitory effect on quinolinic acid-induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain than the ripe pepper (CAT and CCH). They concluded that the protection of the brain tissues by hot pepper depends on the total phenol content in sodium nitroprusside-nduced ipid peroxidation and that ripening would reduce the protective properties of hot pepper against quinolinic acid-induced lipid peroxidation.

Ref: Journal of Medicinal Food 11.2 (June 2008): p349(7)

Pepperoncini Packs a Nutritional Punch

ebedwards — Sun, 29 May 2011 16:55:11 +0000

Pepperoncini, or sweet Italian peppers, are a slightly sweet, salty pepper often used to garnish salads. The heat of a pepperoncini ranges between low and medium. They are usually 2 to 3 inches long and are found in grocery stores fresh or pickled. Members of the pepper family contain vitamins, minerals and compounds that increase metabolism — and pepperoncini are no exception.

Hot Peppers: A Natural Treatment for Cluster Headaches

ebedwards — Sat, 28 May 2011 22:18:17 +0000

Cluster headache, descriptively nicknamed the “suicide headache” is a neurological disease that involves, as its most prominent feature, an immense degree of pain generally occurring unilaterally about the orbit of the eye. Multiple researchers discovered that using capsaicin (one of the pungent principles of hot peppers) is an effective treatment for the disorder. In fact, SiCap, LLC has incorporated capsaicin in a nasal spray targeted to cluster headache sufferers.

As a side note, I am a cluster headache sufferer who has suffered without relief for over 12 years. I tried about every non-pharmaceutical remedy out there until I came across the Pain. 1994 Dec;59(3):321-5 journal article and tried my own variation of treatment. Rather than using a saline / capsaicin solution, I coated a cue-tip with hot pepper powder and swabbed the nostril of the effected side of my head at first sign of a headache. To my surprise and relief, 100% of my headaches were aborted during my 8 week cluster period.

Read abstracts to the research articles here.

Link to SiCap, LLC’s website here.

Analgesic Effect of Capsaicinoids Can Help Relieve Arthritis Pain

ebedwards — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:48:45 +0000

This article recommends the usage of capsaicinoid-containing creams for relief of arthritis related pain. It also stresses the fact that the analgesic effect can only be produced after prolonged and regular use. Correction: the author refers to capsicum rather than capsaicin or capsaicinoids as being the effective compound(s) in the creams. Capsicum, of course, refers to the genus of the pepper plant.

Start the Day with Spice Coffee

ebedwards — Tue, 17 May 2011 17:27:53 +0000

Start the day off right with hot pepper spice coffee. This brew will jump start your senses as well as your metabolism and circulation. This can be accomplished on the large or the small scale, I use the Keurig single serving brewer with the reusable filter attachment. In the filter I place 1/2 the coffee charge on the bottom then layer in about a 1/2 tablespoon of dried hot pepper powder followed by the remainder of the coffee charge on top. The capsaicin is essentially steam distilled into the brew thereby providing a delicious spicy cup of coffee. An alternative approach would be to add the spice post-brew, which works but one must be careful in drinking the dregs at the bottom. The pepper will be reconstituted by the hot water, leaving a fair amount of material in the bottom, making that last swig a very hot and chewy one.

Drink daily.

Hot Peppers have Anti-Cancer Effect

ebedwards — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:03:06 +0000

In recent years the field of cancer research has begun to shift toward natural solutions for treatment and prevention. Urged by the recent trend in pharmaceutical R&D toward naturopathic solutions, researcher Dan Dou sought to determine whether the level of “hotness” of a hot pepper correlated to cancer cell killing activity in vitro. Extracts from ten different peppers varieties with a wide range of spiciness levels were prepared and assayed for tumor angiogenesis and apoptosis and discoverd that both fresh and dried pepper extracts were highly effective in killing cancer cells and inhibiting cell proliferation in leukemia and breast cells in vitro while having little or no effect on non-cancerous cells.

Read the entire report here.