The Many Benefits Of Black Pepper
Many people are unaware of the many healthful benefits of black pepper. Unlike salt, which can be harmful when added to food, black pepper actually seems to impart healthful benefits on those who use it in recipes and at the table.
Black Pepper Through The Ages
In ancient times, black pepper was so valuable that it was often used as currency, and it was not unusual to see black pepper offered as a sacrifice to the gods. These days, we are fortunate that black pepper is plentiful, inexpensive and available year round.
Black pepper is derived from the pepper plant, a large woody vine which can grow to heights of more than 30 feet in the hot and humid climates of the tropics. These vines start to bear their traditional small white flowers after about three or four years. It is these bunches of small white flowers which develop the berries known as peppercorns. It is the ground peppercorns that produce the spice we know as black pepper.
The benefits of black pepper go far beyond its ability to add great taste to a wide variety of dishes. Recent studies suggest that black pepper may have a number of important health benefits. One of the most important of these health benefits is the abilty to improve digestion and improve the health of the digestive system and intestines.
Digestion And Black Pepper
Problems with digestion are increasing in frequency, and black pepper seems to be effective in improving the digestion of food, probably due to the way in which black pepper stimulates the taste buds. This stimulation of the taste buds notifies the stomach to increase its secretion of hydrochloric acid, thus improving the digestion of the food once it reaches the stomach. Insufficient production of stomach acid can lead to heartburn, indigestion and other problems, and black pepper may help to alleviate this problem.
In addition, black pepper is known to reduce the formation of intestinal gas, thus providing a natural solution to an embarrassing problem. This ability is most likely also the result of the stimulation of hydrochloric acid production.
Black pepper has also been shown to have significant antioxidant and antibacterial properties, important for fighting disease and maintaining overall good health. With all this to recommend it, there is no reason not to add a pinch of black pepper to every meal.
Delicious Black Pepper
Many professional chefs, and home cooks, swear by the value of grinding their own peppercorns, and fresh peppercorns are available from a variety of sources, including supermarkets, organic markets and even the internet. Grinding peppercorns at home certainly provides increased freshness, and there is some thought that the skin of the peppercorn is good at stimulating the metabolism, leading possibly to a slimmer figure and healthier body.
If you do decide to buy your black pepper already ground, however, it is important to buy a quality brand. There are many brands of black pepper in the local supermarket, from the lowest price generic brands to the highest priced gourmet variety. While it is not necessary to pay top price for black pepper, it is important to buy your black pepper form a company with a strong reputation for top quality foods.
About Nutrition
| Does Raspberry Ketone Promote Weight Loss? |
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Raspberry ketone is an aromatic compound found in red raspberries. It's extracted and used in perfumes and cosmetics and it's also used as a flavoring agent in some fruit-flavored foods. Apparently now it's being touted as a semi-magical weight loss aid. But does it work? Who knows - I can't find any clinical studies for it. There are some studies on mice that were given raspberry ketone and it appeared to prevent weight gain when the little rodents were fed high-fat diets. Apparently the anti-obesity effects were due to stimulation of lipolysis (which is how the body breaks down fat in fat cells called adipocytes) in both regular fat tissue and brown fat tissue. It also suppressed release of pancreatic lipase, a digestive enzyme needed to break down dietary fats so they can be absorbed through the small intestinal wall. But this research was done on mice. We're humans, not rodents. We have different physiology and different emotional reasons for eating (or not eating) fats and other foods. So just because mice didn't get fat while being given raspberry ketone doesn't mean it will work the same way in humans. To know if raspberry ketone can work in humans requires clinical research and I can't find any research on people. So will it hurt you to take raspberry ketone supplements? Probably not. Will it help you lose weight? I don't know, but I doubt it. More than likely it will just make your wallet a little lighter. Does Raspberry Ketone Promote Weight Loss? originally appeared on About.com Nutrition on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 13:06:04. Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Tomatoes - A Superfood |
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Tomatoes are the kind of superfood I really like. They're easy to find, easy to prepare and cooking or processing them doesn't reduce the health benefit you may get from eating them. Now, I don't consider a blob of ketchup to be a vegetable and I realize you can find tomato sauce buried in some unhealthy places, like under layers of cheese and sausage on a pizza, but it's always nice when a superfood is something simple. Tomatoes are proof that superfoods don't have to be exotic or difficult to find.
Today I wrote about the health benefits of tomatoes, and now I think I'm craving a tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese salad. Read about the Health Benefits of Tomatoes Do you like tomatoes? What's your favorite kind of tomato and how do like to eat them? Tomatoes - A Superfood originally appeared on About.com Nutrition on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 16:30:55. Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Drinking Water |
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Good nutrition isn't just about the foods you eat, it also includes the beverages you drink. Water is a good beverage. It doesn't have any calories or artificial colorings or flavorings and your body needs it. It's also cheap when you get it from the tap. Maybe you prefer bottled water or you use a filtered pitcher to avoid impurities or you prefer the flavor.
I don't like to drink water. I don't like the way it tastes. A lot of people think that's weird because water doesn't really have any flavor. I was a picky eater as a kid so maybe that's related, I don't know. Anyway, if you're like me you can still get enough water by choosing other beverages or flavoring your water with a slice of lemon or lime. I also like sparkling water. You can choose flavored waters too. Just because they're flavored doesn't change the fact that they're almost completely water. Common Questions About Water
Drinking Water originally appeared on About.com Nutrition on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 10:45:21. Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Sweet Potatoes |
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Did you know that yams and sweet potatoes are a great source of vitamin A and beta carotene? Sweet potatoes are also a good source of fiber. They have a naturally sweet flavor that doesn't need much extra seasoning, although they're often glazed or served in sweet potato pie. Today I wrote an article about sweet potatoes, how to choose them, how to cook them and I included some links to healthy and delicious recipes that feature sweet potatoes: What's your favorite way to serve sweet potatoes? I like mine baked and then served with a little bit of real maple syrup with a few pecans sprinkled on top. Sweet Potatoes originally appeared on About.com Nutrition on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 11:07:54. Permalink | Comment | Email this |
| Vitamin D In the Winter |
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Vitamin D is a popular vitamin in the world of nutrition right now - it seems there's news about vitamin D research every week. Your body needs vitamin D in order to absorb calcium and various research studies have linked deficiencies with several health conditions, including high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Today I read a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology in which the authors looked at vitamin D deficiency, supplementation and cardiovascular disease risk factors like high blood pressure and diabetes. The researchers (not surprisingly) found an association of vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and also with decreased survival time. So they looked a little closer at the patients who were deficient in vitamin D levels to see if taking vitamin D supplements had any impact on survival times. Turns out the vitamin D deficient-subjects who were taking vitamin D supplements tended to have increased survival times. This was an observational study and not a randomized control trial (which provides the highest form of evidence), so there was no specific dosage used and the subjects weren't required to take any vitamin D. So there was a wide range of dosages reported, from 1,000 International Units per day up to prescription forms of vitamin D taken at 50,000 International Units bi-weekly. Interestingly, subjects who had cardiovascular disease but were not deficient in vitamin D according to blood tests, but took vitamin D supplements anyway didn't have the same increased survival times. We still have a lot to learn about any therapeutic benefits of vitamin D. You don't usually get much vitamin D from the foods you eat, although milk is usually fortified with it, you're body makes vitamin D after your skin is exposed to sunlight. Those of us who live north of a line drawn on a map from the northern border of California in the west to Boston in the east can't even get vitamin D from the sun during the colder months because the sun's rays just aren't strong enough to give us the UV exposure we need. So it's a good idea to take vitamin D supplements during the winter (or any time of the year if you avoid sun exposure). Vitamin D In the Winter originally appeared on About.com Nutrition on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 14:40:43. Permalink | Comment | Email this |