Black Pepper – Benefits and Possible Risks
March 19, 2010 by abhijith
Filed under General Health, Health
Black pepper has a mixed effect. It has advantages as well as disadvantages too. One can’t clearly specify it to be a harmful or healthy substance. With all these confusion I would like to give few positive and negative aspects of Black pepper.
Positives:
1. Alleviates hemorrhoids
2. Alleviates gas
3. Alleviates constipation
Black pepper removes loss of appetite. Just by putting a pinch of black pepper into the meal it aids digestion. This is possible because, on consuming black pepper the taste buds get stimulated and increases the production of hydrochloric acid in our stomach there by bringing about proper digestion. Apart from these it also promotes sweating, urination, anti-bacterial effect and anti-oxidant effect. It helps in break down of fat cells there by reducing the obesity problem. Studies have suggested that inhaling black pepper vapor has helped in quitting smoking. It also contains an alkaloid called Piperine. This particular alkaloid increases the bioavailability of drugs and nutritional substances. It also has anti-carcinogenic and anti-convulsant behaviors too.
Negatives:
1. Black pepper increases the parietal secretion i.e. hydrochloric acid secretion and pepsin secretion but there will be a decrease in potassium secretion.
2. There could be gastric and mucosal micro bleeding due to in take of black pepper.
3. Piperine although is an anti-carcinogenic substance but has some carcinogen properties. It affects the sperm count and poses problems in reproductive matters.
So one cannot conclude whether it is a harmful or healthy substance. So it’s up to us to decide the amount of black pepper we are going to use. Restricting the usage of black pepper is as dangerous as consuming it in every meal.
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