Eat red pepper, drive away fatigue, stress

It was at a dinner table that the benefits of eating red pepper was raised. Listening to Barrister Thien
Luong Van My, Nestle’s Nutrition Manager, Policy Application and Management, talking of red pepper as his recipe for fatigue really attested to what many people that refuses eating pepper in their meals might be missing.
Barrister Thien Luong Van My was recollecting his experience, during a media tour for journalists to the renowned Nestle Research Centre (NRC) in Lusanne, Switzerland. It was on a day after a week of working without rest, and still needed to sit in the court room as an assistant to a judge that he found himself falling asleep.
Despite all he tried to do to keep awake, he said all efforts failed and that was the beginning of his search for a solution to dosing off, while at the bench in the law court.
“I remembered having some chili in my pocket and I chewed one of it. The hot sensation it sent into my body, including my brain, made me to always be at alert. This is one thing I never do without having some in my pockets because it indeed is effective in driving off fatigue”, Barrister Thien Luong Van My recollected.
In addition to their use as food and spice, chillies or red pepper have been popular in both Ayurvedic and homoeopathic treatments since ancient times. Red pepper is used as a natural fat burner and painkiller, to treat ulcers, increase metabolism, improve circulation, boost the immune system and aid digestion. It is used as a tonic for the heart, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, spleen and stomach and to treat herpes, shingles and rheumatism. It is also known to combat chills, treat psoriasis and indicated for preventing heart disease.
Red pepper has many common names such as African pepper, Bird pepper, Chili pepper, Tabasco Pepper and Zanzibar Pepper. The powerful compound in it called capsaicin is what gives red pepper its hotness and is also responsible for most of its beneficial effects on human physiology. The hotter the pepper, the higher its content of capsaicin
All the parts of the plant, including the roots, leaves and fruits, have different uses. In African communities, its leaves are boiled with palm kernel oil as a laxative for pregnant women. The infusion of the leaf is used as a remedy for stomach pains, anasarea (a form of dropsy) and ascites in adults. A decoction of the root in local dry gin {alcohol} is used against inflammatory tumours and rheumatism. The fruit is crush, mixed with oil and apply to the area affected by arthritis and rheumatism.
Meanwhile, the practice by Barrister Thien Luong Van My may have a scientific basis, given that a study found that Capsicum, the peppery ingredient in red pepper help alleviate fatigue in people with acute tonsillitis.
In experts assessed the efficacy of a fixed-combination herbal compound of Phytolacca americana, commonly referred to as pigeon berry; Guajacum sanctum commonly referred to as tree-of –life; and Capsicum present in red pepper in treating acute tonsillitis in the 2000 edition of Journal Advances in Therapy. The participants in the study reported a marked alleviation in the principal symptom of tonsillitis, which included, moderate or severe difficulty in swallowing. Comparable improvements occurred in other outcome measures, including earache, headache, and fatigue. No adverse side effects were reported.
The ability of red pepper to stimulate circulation and respiratory reflexes may help to enhance physiologic performance under periods of stress or fatigue. Scientists in France have accrued additional evidence that taking red pepper’s active substace called capsicum, does indeed help to counteract fatigue. In addition to physical stress, mental disorders like depression may also respond to the stimulating effect of capsicum.
In 1980, a study of the effect of eating chilies by Yongyot Monsereenusorn from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ramkamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand published in journal, Pharmaceutical Biology, corroborated its benefit in controlling blood sugar.
Experts have also linked eating pepper to increase fertility in women. In 2006, some researchers found that in some species of worm, addition of pepper to their meal stimulated more egg laying in these worms, they asserted in the Chemoecology journal.
Eating red pepper can have a very positive impact on people that are overweight or suffer from diabetes, according to a team of researchers at The University of Tasmania, whose research was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in July 2006.
The study carried out yielded that the normal eating of pepper can help significantly control insulin levels after eating a meal. The actual data they collected was able to show that after eating red pepper, the amount of insulin needed to lower the body’s blood sugar level following a meal, was reduced by a staggering 60 per cent.
Cancer Research published a study in March 2006, which concluded that Capsaicin helped stop the spread of prostate cancer. The capsaicin found in red pepper triggered suicide in both primary types of prostate cancer cell lines. The researcher said that it dramatically slowed the development of prostate cancer formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models.
In addition, if you suffer from indigestion, eating red pepper can bring relieve. In a small trial in Italy by Dr. Mauro Bortolotti and other researchers from the University of Bologna, 30 patients with indigestion were randomized on daily capsules of 2.5 g of red pepper or placebo. The capsaicin content was 0.7 mg/g of red pepper power.
After three weeks, upper gastrointestinal symptoms of epigastric pain (upper abdominal pain), fullness, nausea and early satiety (feeling full after only a small amount of food) were all significantly reduced in the capsaicin group and not in the placebo group, the report said in New England Journal of Medicine.
Next time you want an afternoon snack that would not put you to sleep, try adding a bit of hot pepper to your snack. It will give you an extra nudge to make it through the day.