Benefits of pepper

A pinch of black pepper added to any recipe works more than just a flavor enhancer. The king of spices is known to offer a number of health benefits while providing an excellent depth of flavor to a dish. The use of black pepper in your diet helps to promote weight loss, aid in digestion, relieve cough and cold, increase metabolism and treat skin problems.

Black Pepper

Black pepper is the fruit of the black pepper plant from the Piperaceae family and is used as both, a spice and a medicine. The chemical piperine, which is present in black pepper, causes the spiciness. It is native to Kerala, the southern state of India. Since ancient times, black pepper is one of the most widely-traded spices in the world. It is not considered a seasonal plant and is, therefore, available throughout the year. When dried, this plant-derived spice is referred to as a peppercorn. Because of its antibacterial properties, pepper is also used to preserve food. Black pepper is also a very good anti-inflammatory agent.

Nutrition :

Black Pepper is a rich source of minerals like manganese, copper, magnesium, calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, and vitamins like, riboflavin, vitamin C, K and B6. Black pepper has high content of dietary fiber, and has moderate amount of protein and carbohydrate too.
Health Benefits Of Black Pepper Black pepper, while adding its own flavor to the food, is extremely good for your health. Black pepper aids in weight loss, prevents ear ache, and helps in sinus, asthma and nasal congestion. It also reduces the risk of cancer, heart and liver ailments. Let us know the health benefits of black pepper in detail;

Improves Digestion :


Consumption of pepper increases the hydrochloric acid secretion in the stomach, thereby facilitating digestion. Proper digestion is essential to avoid diarrhea, constipation and colic. Pepper also helps to prevent the formation of intestinal gas, and when added to a person’s diet, it can promote sweating and urination, which remove toxins from the body. Sweating removes toxins and cleans out the pores of any foreign bodies that may have lodged there and it can also remove excess water. In terms of urination, you can remove uric acid, urea, excess water, and fat, since 4% of urine is made of fat. A good digestion helps in weight loss, makes your overall body function better and prevents severe gastrointestinal conditions. As black pepper is carminative in nature, it easily expels the gas out of the body in a downward motion, which is healthy, as gas when moved upward can be dangerous because it can strain the upper chest cavity and other vital organs.

Promotes Weight Loss

The outer layer of peppercorn assists in the breakdown of fat cells. Therefore, peppery foods are a good way to help you shed weight naturally. When fat cells are broken down into their component parts, they are easily processed by the body and applied to other healthier processes and enzymatic reactions, rather than settling in your body and making you look overweight.

Skin Care

Pepper helps to cure vitiligo, which is a skin disease that causes some areas of skin to lose its normal pigmentation and turn white. According to researchers in London, the piperine content of pepper can stimulate the skin to produce melanocytes pigment. Topical treatment of piperine combined with ultraviolet light therapy is much better than the other harsher, more chemical-based treatments for vitiligo. It also reduces the chances of skin cancer due to excessive ultraviolet radiation.

Respiratory Relief

In Ayurvedic practices, pepper is added to tonics for treating cold and cough. Pepper also provides relief from sinusitis and nasal congestion. It has an expectorant property that helps to break up the mucus and phlegm depositions in the respiratory tract and its natural irritant quality helps you to expel these loosened materials through the act of sneezing or coughing, which eliminates the material from the body and helps you recover from whatever infection or illness that caused the deposition in the first place.

Antibacterial Quality 

The antibacterial property of black pepper helps to fight against infections and insect bites. Pepper added to the diet helps to keep your arteries clean by acting in a similar way to fiber and scraping excess cholesterol from the walls, thereby helping to reduce atherosclerosis, the condition highly responsible for heart attacks and strokes. 

 Antioxidant Potential 

An antioxidant like pepper can prevent or repair the damage caused by the free radicals and thus help to prevent cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and liver problems. Free radicals are the byproducts of cellular metabolism that attack healthy cells and cause their DNA to mutate into cancerous cells. Antioxidants like black pepper neutralize these harmful compounds and protect your system from many conditions, even premature aging symptoms like wrinkles, age spots, macular degeneration, and memory loss.

Enhances Bioavailability

Black pepper helps in transporting the benefits of other herbs to different parts of the body, maximizing the efficiency of the other healthy foods that we consume. That is why adding it to food not only makes it delicious 

Improves Cognitive Function

Piperine, one of the key components of black pepper, has been shown in numerous studies to reduce memory impairment and cognitive malfunction. Chemical pathways in the brain appear to be stimulated by this organic compound, so early research demonstrates the possibility for pepper to benefit Alzheimer's disease and those that are suffering from dementia and other age-related or free radical-related malfunctions in cognition.

Treats Peptic Ulcers

A number of studies have shown that black pepper may have beneficial effects on gastric mucosal damage and peptic ulcers, due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Prevents Asthma & Whooping Cough

Pepper is a good treatment for respiratory conditions due to its properties as an expectorant, as well as its strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Other Benefits

According to Ayurvedic medicine, black pepper also helps to prevent ear-aches and gangrene. It is also good for conditions of hernia, hoarseness and insect bites. It is also commonly used to treat conditions of tooth decay and toothache. In ancient times, pepper was also administered to treat vision problems.

Preparing grounded pepper powder at home is better than buying ready-made pepper powder. However, even home-made powder retains its freshness for only 3 months, while whole peppercorns can keep their freshness indefinitely. Thus, adding a pinch of black pepper to every meal helps to improve both, taste and digestion. It also improves your overall health and well-being.