The Uses Of Cayenne Pepper

The intense sensation you get when biting into a cayenne pepper comes from a chemical called capsaicin. All peppers have a capsaicin, but some, such as the cayenne, have more than others. In fact, the cayenne pepper starts at 30,000 Scoville heat units compared to the paltry 1,000 of the jalepeno pepper. The high capsaicin content makes cayenne pepper useful not only as a flavoring but also for medicinal properties.

Flavoring

Cayenne pepper is used as a seasoning to provide heat for spicy dishes. Sometimes used fresh but more frequently found dried and ground into a fine powder, cayenne pepper is added to meat dishes, soups and stews, sauces and other savory foods, particularly in Cajun, Creole, Asian and Mexican cuisine.

Digestive Aid

While many believe that peppers are irritating to the digestive tract, "The Healing Herbs" by Michael Castleman recounts a study published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," where researchers examined the stomachs of subjects after eating either bland or spicy foods. No difference in the condition of the gastrointestinal tract was noted. In fact, cayenne pepper stimulates the flow of saliva and stomach secretions, thereby assisting digestion.

Pain Relief

Hot peppers, including cayenne, have been used by herbalists for centuries for treating chronic pain. At first thought to be simply a counterirritant, simply distracting the pain sufferer, recent research has indicated that the capsaicin within cayenne pepper does actually block the stimulation of pain nerve fibers, according to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. This discovery has opened up new possibilities for using capsaicin as pain relief treatment. Pain caused by a range of ailments -- including cluster headaches, joint pain related to osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, pain that accompanies the herpes zoster infection known commonly as shingles, and pain related to diabetic neuropathy -- may be relieved using cayenne pepper-derived capsaicin.

Weight Loss

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, when taken orally, capsaicin may be useful as a type of weight loss treatment. The chemical can increase body heat for a short period of time and does seem to regulate blood sugar levels by affecting carbohydrate breakdown. Further investigation is currently under way.

Antioxidant

Cayenne pepper can have significant antioxidant effects within the body. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's clinical summary for cayenne pepper indicates that extracts of peppers exhibit a higher level of antioxidant activity than other vegetables, including broccoli and spinach.