Paprika Pepper (Smoked) 100 g, 50 g

Paprika Pepper (Smoked)  100 g ($10.99), 50 g ($7.99)

Benefits:
Nutrition And Compounds  Because of the variations in pepper cultivars, paprika nutrition can be very different from product to product. However, a few things are true about paprika. First, the red varieties in particular have a massive amount of vitamin A in just one tiny serving (one tablespoon is almost ¾ of the daily recommended intake). That’s nothing to shake your head at, as the antioxidant properties of vitamin A are many.

Secondly, paprika made from spicier peppers (most often the chili pepper) includes an important ingredient known as capsaicin. This nutrient is what gives spicy peppers their heat, and when it comes to health benefits, capsaicin is a key part of paprika’s ability to prevent life-threatening diseases. However, although paprika made from bell peppers also has some incredible health benefits, there is no capsaicin in this sweet pepper variety.

One serving of paprika (one tablespoon) contains about:

• 20 calories
• 3.8 grams carbohydrates
• 1 gram protein
• 0.9 gram fat
• 2.5 grams fiber
• 3,560 international units vitamin A (71 percent DV)
• 0.3 milligram vitamin B6 (14 percent DV)
• 2 milligrams vitamin E (10 percent DV)
• 1.6 milligrams iron (9 percent DV)
• 4.8 milligrams vitamin C (8 percent DV)
• 5.4 microgram vitamin K (7 percent DV)
• 0.1 milligram riboflavin (7 percent DV)
• 1 milligram niacin (5 percent DV)
• 158 milligrams potassium (5 percent DV)

Antioxidants  This spice also contains a variety of antioxidants, which fight cell damage caused by reactive molecules called free radicals. Free radical damage is linked to chronic illnesses, like heart disease and cancer. As such, eating antioxidant-rich foods may help prevent these conditions (2). The main antioxidants in paprika belong to the carotenoid family and include beta carotene, capsanthin, zeaxanthin, and lutein (3, 4, 5, 6).

Perhaps the most impressive quality of paprika is the amount of antioxidant power it packs in just one serving. Peppers and products created from them have long been understood to have disease-fighting properties, due in large part to their ability to fight oxidative stress.

There are many antioxidants in paprika, including carotenoids, which are found to varying degrees in different types of paprika. Carotenoids are a type of pigment found in many plants that serve the body as antioxidants, preventing damage from oxidative stress (caused by an overabundance of free radicals in the body) and helping the body fight disease. These are fat-soluble nutrients, meaning they’re absorbed best when consumed alongside a healthy fat source, such as avocado.

The carotenoids commonly found in paprika are beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin and lutein/zeaxanthin. Beta-carotene has many benefits, from skin protection to respiratory health to pregnancy support. The best-known benefit of beta-cryptoxanthin is the ability to lower inflammation in disorders such as arthritis. Lutein and zeaxanthin are known for their roles in the health of the eyes, helping fight off molecules that are known to cause damage that leads to conditions like macular degeneration.

In general, vitamin A is known for the way it decreases inflammation through antioxidant properties, and since inflammation is at the root of most diseases, getting enough of the nutrient is important in living a life that’s free of disease. And that’s just one of the paprika benefits.

Vision  Because of the large amount of antioxidants present in this spice, such as vitamin A, lutein and zeaxanthin, it’s already clear that paprika benefits you by helping prevent diseases that damage your eyes. Vitamin B6 in paprika also helps keep your eyes healthy. People who consume high amounts of B6 see a slower onset of macular degeneration and other eye-related diseases, especially when consumed with large quantities of folate. Paprika contains several nutrients that may boost eye health, including vitamin E, beta carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin (7). In fact, studies have linked a high dietary intake of some of these nutrients to a decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts (8, 9).

In particular, lutein and zeaxanthin, which act as antioxidants, may prevent damage to your eyes (10).

In a study in over 1,800 women, those with the highest dietary intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin were 32% less likely to develop cataracts than those with the lowest intakes (9). Another study in 4,519 adults likewise noted that higher intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin were associated with a decreased risk of AMD (8).

Inflammation  Certain varieties of paprika, especially hot ones, contain the compound capsaicin (11, 12). It’s thought that capsaicin binds to receptors on your nerve cells to reduce inflammation and pain (13 , 14, 15).  Therefore, it may protect against a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, including arthritis, nerve damage, and digestive issues (13, 16). Several studies show that topical creams with capsaicin help reduce pain caused by arthritis and nerve damage, but research on capsaicin tablets is more limited (13). In a study in 376 adults with gastrointestinal diseases, capsaicin supplements helped prevent stomach inflammation and damage (17). Another study in rats revealed that 10 days of capsaicin supplements decreased inflammation associated with an autoimmune nerve condition (18).

Still, specific research on paprika is needed.

Heart  Spicing up your life with paprika helps keep your heart and cardiovascular system in good shape. Vitamin B6 helps lower high blood pressure and heal damaged blood vessels. It even treats anemia by creating hemoglobin in the blood responsible for transporting oxygen through the bloodstream.

Paprika also contains capsanthin, which is touted, according to one study, as the main carotenoid in the spice. Little, however, is known about this antioxidant, especially in comparison to the other common antioxidants. As more research is done, one source found that capsanthin in paprika caused an increase in good HDL cholesterol, which is another way paprika can keep your cardiovascular system working well.

Cholesterol  Paprika may benefit your cholesterol levels. In particular, capsanthin, a carotenoid in this popular spice, may raise levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, which is associated with a lower risk of heart disease (19, 20, 21). One two-week study found that rats fed diets with paprika and capsanthin experienced significant increases in HDL levels, compared with rats on a control diet (20). The carotenoids in paprika may also help decrease levels of total and LDL (bad) cholesterol, which are linked to an increased risk of heart disease (19). In a 12-week study in 100 healthy adults, those who took a supplement containing 9 mg of paprika carotenoids per day had significantly lower LDL (bad) and total cholesterol levels than those who got a placebo (22).

Blood Sugar   Like many nutrient-rich foods and spices, paprika seems to have the potential to help regulate blood sugar levels and assist in treating diabetes. When patients with diabetes consume paprika containing capsaicin, they better process the digestion and processing of sugars in the blood. Women with diabetes also tend to birth babies too large for their gestational ages, and capsaicin supplementation decreases the incidence of this as well. The capsaicin in paprika may help manage diabetes.

That’s because capsaicin may influence genes involved in blood sugar control and inhibit enzymes that break down sugar in your body. It may also improve insulin sensitivity (27, 28). In a 4-week study in 42 pregnant women with diabetes, taking a daily 5-mg capsaicin supplement significantly decreased post-meal blood sugar levels, compared with a placebo (29). Another 4-week study in 36 adults found that a diet with capsaicin-containing chili pepper significantly decreased blood insulin levels after meals, compared with a chili-free diet. Lower insulin levels typically indicate better blood sugar control (30).

Healthy Blood  Paprika is rich in iron and vitamin E, two micronutrients vital for healthy blood. Iron is a crucial part of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that helps carry oxygen throughout your body, while vitamin E is needed to create healthy membranes for these cells (31, 32). Therefore, deficiencies in either of these nutrients may lower your red blood cell count. This can cause anemia, a condition marked by fatigue, pale skin, and shortness of breath (31, 32, 33). In fact, one study in 200 young women tied low iron intake to a nearly 6-fold increased risk of anemia, compared with adequate intake (34). Animal studies suggest that vitamin E is highly effective at repairing damage to red blood cells — and that deficiency in this vitamin may lead to anemia (35, 3).

Anti-Cancer  The capsaicin found in spicy paprika isn’t useful in treating just one type of disease — it also has great potential in treating and/or preventing cancer. Operating in several different mechanisms, capsaicin seems to be responsible for altering signaling pathways that limit cancer growth and even suppress genes that tell tumors to increase in size.

In particular, one paprika benefit may be its ability to protect against gastric cancer. A 2012 study of gastric cancer states, “Gastric cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths.” Over 80 percent of patients diagnosed with this form of cancer die within a year of their diagnoses or recurrence of the disease. The good news is that capsaicin has potent anti-inflammatory effects on the incidence of gastric cancer, as discovered in 2016 in early research out of Japan.

There are many natural cancer treatments that have been effective in aiding treatment, so if you’re at risk of developing this disease, it’s wise to use paprika as one ingredient in a cancer-prevention lifestyle.

Numerous compounds in paprika may protect against cancer. Several paprika carotenoids, including beta carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, have been shown to fight oxidative stress, which is thought to increase your risk of certain cancers (23, 24). Notably, in a study in nearly 2,000 women, those with the highest blood levels of beta carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, and total carotenoids were 25–35% less likely to develop breast cancer (25). Capsaicin in paprika may inhibit cancer cell growth and survival by influencing the expression of several genes (26). However, more extensive research is needed on this spice’s anticancer potential.

Autoimmune Conditions Treatment  A groundbreaking study conducted in 2016 found that capsaicin, the ingredient in chili peppers and other hot varieties that provide the heat — like paprika — may have incredible power against autoimmune conditions. These often debilitating illnesses stem from the immune system attacking the host’s body. Symptoms of autoimmune diseases affect brain, skin, mouth, lungs, sinus, thyroid, joints, muscles, adrenals and gastrointestinal tract functions. However, while autoimmune disorders are not curable, this 2016 study found that capsaicin stimulates biological reactions consistent with the treatment of autoimmune disease.

Botanical Name: Capsicum annuum
English: Paprika Spanish
Harvested: Cultivated
Origin: Mexico
Parts Used: Pods

General Information:
Paprika is a powder made from grinding the pods of various kinds of Capsicum annuum peppers. Used for flavor and colour, it is the fourth most consumed spice in the world and often appears in spice mixes. Hungarian Paprika and Spanish Pimento are spices made from Capsicum peppers. Capsicum peppers range in variety from sweet, like the American bell pepper, to hot chili peppers. Well, there are two kinds of Spanish paprika: smoked and unsmoked. Smoked paprika is known as Pimentón de la Vera; it’s named after the region where the peppers are grown.

Traditionally, to make Hungarian paprika, peppers are strung together and hung to air dry. After the peppers dry out, they are stemmed, seeded, and ground. To create Pimento in Spain, the peppers are dried slowly, a process that takes about two weeks, over slow-burning oak. Rotated daily during the drying process, when done they are stemmed, seeded, and stone ground. The Spanish drying process gives the Pimento its distinctive smoky flavor. Pimentón de la Vera is essential to giving Spanish chorizo its characteristic smokiness.

To get the flavor of paprika, it needs to be heated in a moist environment, preferably oil, to really release its flavor. But as paprika burns quickly, don’t let it spend more than a few seconds in hot oil before adding something water-based.

Until Christopher Columbus returned from the New World with his mistakenly named “peppers” (for example, the bell pepper), the people of Europe (and everywhere else but North America) had never even seen one of these curious plants that originated in Mexico. First used to decorate the gardens of European nobility, varieties of pepper eventually found their way to Turkey and, from there, to Hungary.

The word “paprika” is used in many non-English-speaking European countries to describe the pepper itself, although this is not the case in English, where it refers specifically to the red spice derived from dried peppers. According to the New World Encyclopedia, “The first note mentioning red pepper in Szeged, Hungary dates back to 1748, with the word paprika in an account book.”

Near the end of the 1800s — more than 300 years after the first pepper plant was grown in Hungary — paprika became a main part of Hungarian food preparation, although its earliest use there was for treatment of intermittent fever. Today, many claim the “best” paprika originates from the areas of southern Turkey where it’s now cultivated.

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.

How Much To Use
It is common that 10g of a fresh herb = 1g when dehydrated.
Recommended daily amount: ¼ -1 tsp of paprika pepper (0.5-2.5 g)/ day. This can be split into 2 or 3 uses and added to food or drink.