Cayenne Pepper 100 g, 50 g

Cayenne Pepper 100 g ($8.99), 50 g ($5.99)

Benefits
Cayenne is an anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant. It relieves pain, has antimicrobial effects, and may even have an anticancer effect. It can ease aspirin-induced upset stomach and is a digestive aid. It seems to be a detoxifying agent and specifically protects the stomach. It also may help blood clot more effectively. In folk medicine, cayenne has been used for painful muscle spasms, frostbite, and as a gargle for hoarseness and sore throats. It also was used for preventing seasickness, heart disease, and stroke. In Ayurvedic medicine, cayenne is used for gout, arthritis, sciatica, coughs, and hoarseness. It can lower a fever associated with malaria, yellow fever, and scarlet fever. It is also used for cholera and edema. When combined with ginger and rhubarb, it can treat anorexia nervosa. As a homeopathic remedy, cayenne is used for inflammation of the urinary tract, alimentary canal, and mouth, and for middle ear infections.

Arthritis, diabetic neuropathy, and sore muscles. Capsaicin in cayenne acts as a counterirritant, causing temporary pain to the skin that depletes the chemical messengers of pain for the joint. Applied as a cream, capsaicin permeates the skin, enters the nerve, and eliminates substance P, which stops the pain message from reaching the brain. Leaving a concentrated form on the skin for a long period of time may cause skin irritation. However, a review of the medical literature failed to find overwhelming positive benefits over placebo in arthritis patients. In patients with diabetes who had nerve pain, cayenne cream was effective in some patients, but burning was a frequent side effect, and many patients stopped using it. Another group of patients with diabetes and nerve pain experienced significant reduction in pain status (a 45 percent reduction on the pain severity scale) using a 0.75 percent cream applied four times a day. Half of the patients improved or were cured. Cayenne seemed to relieve pain in patients with osteoarthritis rather than those with the rheumatoid form of the disease. In another study, patients with osteoarthritis used a 0.75 percent cream four times a day for four weeks. Afterward, they had less pain and were less tender. According to the German Commission E, cayenne is used for rheumatism and muscular soreness. Cayenne has been shown to reduce postoperative nerve pain after breast surgery, amputation, and thoracotomy.

Cough. In one study, children with cystic fibrosis or asthma seemed to benefit from cayenne.

Female sexual dysfunction. This herb in a cream improves circulation and may promote female orgasm. It should not be used for more than two days and then should not be used again for two weeks. Longer usage can cause festering dermatitis, blistering, and ulceration.

Overweight. A clinical study conducted by scientists at Laval University in Quebec found that eating cayenne at breakfast decreased appetite and led to lower fat and calorie intake throughout the day. Cayenne helps boost your metabolism and induces the body to burn off more fat instead of storing it in the body. It may also help attenuate postprandial hyperglycemia when taking 30 grams per day of 55 percent cayenne.

Stomach ailments. The inside of the stomach can be protected from extensive aspirin use by taking cayenne in advance of aspirin, as it delays gastric mucosal damage compared to aspirin alone.

Recommended Use
For external application, use cayenne in the form of capsaicin cream; for internal applications, use cayenne powder, mixed with a starchy food. Do not apply capsaicin cream to broken skin and avoid contact with the eyes or mouth. If redness occurs, stop using it. It should clear up within seventy-two hours. The daily dose is 10 grams externally in a cream and as a tincture of 1:10 dilution. Homeopathic remedies are 5 drops, 1 tablet, or 10 globules every thirty to sixty minutes for acute problems or one to three times a day for chronic issues.

Both capsaicin and cayenne are difficult to remove from contact lenses. Even cleaning the lenses twice will leave enough capsaicin to cause severe eye irritation. Do not use any lens that may be contaminated with capsaicin or cayenne without seeing an ophthalmologist or optometrist.

Some medical concerns exist. Long-term use in Mexico was associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. Cayenne may be anticancer at low doses and carcinogenic at high doses. Topical application of more than 1 percent cream may be toxic to nerves. Cayenne may reduce the ability of the blood to clot and some people are allergic to it, experiencing sneezing and runny nose. Chronic exposure to this herb may lead to an increased cough. If you are using an ACE inhibitor (angiotensin- converting enzyme) and experience coughing, discontinue its use. If you are using anticoagulants, do not use cayenne. Concurrent use of barbiturates or aspirin with cayenne may decrease their effectiveness. If you are taking theophylline to help with breathing, the drug may become toxic if combined with cayenne, so they should not be used together.

Taking cayenne powder internally on a regular basis or eating a diet high in hot peppers reduces the ability of the activity of the liver enzyme known by the abbreviation CYP1A2. The liver requires this enzyme to eliminate a number of common medications, including clomipramine (Anafranil), clozapine (Clozaril), imipramine (Tofranil), olanzapine (Zyprexa), tacrine (Cognex), theophylline (Elixophyllin, Theolair, Theo-Dur, and others), warfarin (Coumadin), and zileuton (Zyflo). It is possible that taking cayenne with any of these medications could increase the medication’s side effects.

Botanical Name: Capsicum annuum
English: Chili pepper
Ayurvedic: Raktamaricha, Lankaa, Katuviraa
Unani: Mirch, Filfil-e-ahmar, Filfl-e-surkh, Surkh mirch
Also, known as: rissie, tian jiao, poivron, Spanischer Pfeffer, Chilli, Gewürzpaprika, hara mirh, paprika, pimento, pepperone, peppaa, cabai, Red pepper, Milagay, pimento, pimiento picante, phrik, biber, African pepper, bird pepper, chili, chili pepper, goat’s pod, paprika, red pepper, Zanzibar pepper.
Habitat: Native to West Indies & Tropical America
Origin: India
Harvested: Cultivated
Parts Used: Fruit

General Information:
Cayenne is a perennial but frost-sensitive shrub that grows to a height of three feet (one meter). It is covered with scarlet-red, conical fruits that, when fresh, contain plump, white seeds. Native to Mexico and Central America, cayenne was brought to Europe in the seventeenth century by the Spanish. It is a mainstay of the cuisines of much of Latin America and the American Southwest. Although cayenne is a unique species, any of the over 130 species of pepper that contain capsaicin can be used medicinally. The fresh or dried fruits are used medicinally.

The word Capsicum, the genus of cayenne, may have been derived from the Greek kapto, meaning “to bite.” This “bite” is caused by the constituent capsaicin. The more capsaicin a pepper has, the more heat or bite to it. This amount varies greatly among species and varieties.

The fruits are fleshy, hollow berries, very variable in shape and size as a result of domestication and breeding over many centuries. They may be sweet and non-pungent (“sweet peppers” or “capsicum”) or hot (known as “chili peppers” in the USA and as “chillies” or “chilli” in British English). The fruits are used fresh or dry, often as flakes or powder (red pepper), ranging from paprika (mild) to cayenne (moderately hot).

One way of expressing this bite or heat is in Scoville heat units (SHU). Cayenne has around 20,000 to 50,000 SHU. For the sake of comparison, bell peppers have 0 and habaneros have more than 100,000. Other members of the Capsicum genus include bell peppers, chilis, and habaneros. This genus is from the Americas and has been cultivated for at least 7,000 years. Some early explorers brought the seeds from South America to Europe, and they were so loved they quickly spread around the world.

There are many forms of C. annuum, ranging from sweet (bell pepper) to hot (cayenne), including the famous Mexican ‘Jalapeño’ and ‘Serrano’, but also ‘Cascabel’, ‘Catarina’, ‘Chilhuacle’, ‘Costeño’, ‘De Agua’, ‘Fresno’, ‘Guajillo’, ‘Pasilla’, ‘Pequin’, ‘Poblano’ and ‘Pulla’, as well as New Mexico chillies such as the ‘Anaheim.

 

How to use:
We make these suggestions to help you get the best benefit from the herbs that you’re choosing to improve your health. Also we make these ideas and recommendations so that consuming them easier and better fit into your lifestyle by adding them to the food that you already eat.
For the full health benefit, it is best to consume (or use the whole herb in poultices) the whole herb. All of the compounds in the herb act best together, as nature intends. Extracts draw out the most prominent beneficial compounds and may concentrate them. What is not extracted can be helpful in ways that we do not yet understand.

Cut Pieces or Powdered Herb:
There are different ways to use cut pieces or powdered herb.
Food Preparation: You can add powdered or pieces of herb (if the pieces you buy are bigger than you like, a coffee or herb grinder will quickly reduce) to any yogurt, smoothie, apple or other sauces, spreads, salads or other foods more familiar to you that don’t use heat. Heat can be damaging to the beneficial compounds in the herb. Other options like oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pasta sauce, soup, cookies and anything else that fits your lifestyle, but minimizing (by adding near the end of cooking) the heat is helpful.
Also, for children, you can mix powdered herb with honey or glycerin to make paste. The thicker the paste, the more potent and herbal in taste. The sweet taste of honey and glycerin will help medicine go down. The resulting liquid is called an electuary.
For seeds in general, but especially small seeds, it’s best to grind these to break the protective hulls a short time before consumption. This makes all the benefits available, rather than some remaining locked inside the hulls that are unbroken by insufficient chewing.
To make adding herbs even easier, you could add a week’s worth of your chosen herb(s) to an amount of, for example, yogurt that you would eat in a week. Mix thoroughly and eat this each day of the week. So you make once /week and just eat each other day.
Hot Infusion: The basic method for dried herbs and flower is, take 2-3 tablespoons of dried herb in a cup or teapot. Pour hot water over it and cover it with lid for 10-30 minutes. The heat from making tea can degrade some of the beneficial compounds in the herb. This method minimizes this effect. For the full health benefit, it is recommended to consume what is left over after making tea.
Decoctions: Decoctions are suitable for roots, barks, large seeds & berries, and other dense material. The simple way to make decoction is, in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of dried herbs to 1 cup of water, Bring the water to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30-60 minutes with the pot covered. Squeeze out as much as liquid as possible. Best practice is to drink the liquid and also consume the solid material that remains. Herb pieces can also be used.
Powdered Herb:
There are different ways to use powdered herb.
Capsules: HerbsCrafters makes capsules guaranteed to be filled with the pure herb with no filler or any other products. You can also use powdered herb to make your own capsules at home. These capsules are best taken with liquid to aid in digestion and absorption and to ensure it doesn’t stick in your throat.
Poultice: Poultice can be made with an herbal powder and liquid (mostly water) to form a paste which is then applied to the skin. This method is very helpful for skin conditions.
Herbal shot: Powdered herb can be mixed with water, fruit juice or other liquid to make herbal shot.

Tips:
You can sweeten your herbal decoctions with bit of honey, natural fruit juice, stevia leaves powder or licorice root powder.

Precautions:
You should consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner before using any herbal products, particularly if you are pregnant, nursing, or on any medications.
All information on this website is for educational purpose ONLY.
This information has not been evaluated by Health Canada.
This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.