Benefits of Cayenne Pepper

Health Benefits of Cayenne Pepper

Posted in http://healthvisit.blogspot.com/

Cayenne pepper, this hot and spicy ingredient which add zest to many dishes is a member of the Capsicum family, which is commonly known as chili pepper.
The name Cayenne was attached to this pepper because it was grown in a place the bears the same name, in French Guiana, South America.
The history of the cayenne pepper is well documented and reads like the discovery of the new world; Columbus brought it first to Europe from the Caribbean Islands. Magellan is said to have brought them to Africa and Asia, places that have incorporated the pepper in their cuisine, in their rituals and in medicine.
Cayenne pepper is grown anywhere and the biggest producers today are China, Turkey, Nigeria, Spain and Mexico. Almost in all the continents of the world. It is inexpensive and at times used as a substitute to black pepper which was important from China.
Cayenne pepper is loaded with vitamin A and is a good source of vitamins B6, K, and C. As for minerals it contains manganese and an important element called Capsaicin. The hotter the pepper, the more Capsaicin it contains.

Cayenne Pepper: Health Benefits

Inflammation. The capsaicin has been studied as an effective element to combat inflammation. It is therefore a studied treatment for rheumatoid and osteoarthritis conditions. The theory behind this is that since capsaicin treats the cardiovascular system and increases blood flow, it will aid in lubricating the painful joins. Other kinds of inflammations will benefit as well.
Pain relief. A cream containing capsiacin has been proven to be affective for cluster headaches and arthritis pain. Pain management for patient suffering from diabetic neuropathy has become easier and the patients studied show relief from debilitating pain. In a double blind test on 200 psoriasis subjects, those getting the cream, not the placebo, showed reduction in occurrences and less severe lessons.
Cardiovascular system. Cayenne pepper has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol by increasing the body’s ability to fight plaque build up. Some even go further and say that cayenne can stop a heart attack in progress by opening the arteries. The famous herbalist, Dr. John Christopher, says that one teaspoon of pepper in one glass of warm water is what he uses to treat heart patients immediately when they show symptoms of a heart attack.
Congestion. All those who eat any kind of peppers from this family, knows the affects it has on opening air passages. The heat helps stimulate secretions and clear mucus. Capsaicin is similar in its molecular build to some components present in cold medicines but the pepper works much faster in clearing nose and lung congestion. Next winter, try a tea containing one spoonful of cayenne pepper and you’ll see how fast it will clear your nose.
Immune System. The high content of beta carotene serves an immune booster.
Prevent Ulcers in the Stomach. This sounds like a contraindication. In order to prevent ulcers eat spicy foods? Yes. Cayenne pepper does not cause ulcer. If anything it may help fervent it by killing the bacteria we now know causes ulcers and promote the stomach to secrete protective juices to protect the lining. Researchers theorize that the daily use of chili peppers in some traditional cuisine is the reason why those societies are not suffering as much from stomach ulcers.
Weigh Loss. Because those peppers are hot, it takes the body more energy to control them. It has been proven that chili peppers cause a significant increase thermogenesis and oxygen consumption. Some say that combining the pepper with lemon juice the the ultimate metabolism booster.
Cayenne peppers are sold fresh and dried almost in every store. You can find them in powder form and in many condiments and sauces. Adding some of it to dishes will not only make them a little more poignant but also much healthier.
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Health Benefits of Turmeric Spice

Posted in Healthy Food Guide, Herbs & Spices

Turmeric, the deep orange/yellow spice used in curries and other South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines, comes from the same family as the ginger.
Native to tropical climates, it needs temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius (68-86 Fahrenheit) to thrive.
What we eat comes from the rhizomes, those tubular shapes in the root. If not eaten fresh, the rhizomes are boiled for hours, dried then ground to a powder. The active ingredient in the turmeric is curcumin and it has an earthy, slightly bitter, slightly spicy taste, with a touch of orange/ginger smell. It was once called Indian Saffron and was used to replace the more rare and much more expensive saffron.
A city in south India, Erode, is known as the wold’s largest producer of turmeric, and the trade center for the whole of Asia.
As his relative the ginger, the turmeric is high in manganese and iron, with a healthy dose of vitamin B6. It has been used in the Chinese and Indian medicine as an anti-inflammatory remedy to treat various conditions from flatulence to jaundice, from menstrual cramps to toothache and bruises.

What Modern Research Tell Us About the Health Benefits of Tumeric?

Anti-inflammatory: Turmeric’s anti-inflammatory characteristics have been checked in numerous trials. The results show that it is more potent than over the counter medications such as Motrin, and almost as potent as the prescribed Hydrocortisone. Unlike those drugs which have side effects, the curcumin produces no toxicity. What’s more, the amount needed to produce that affect is very small and can be easily supplied by adding it to food.
Inflammatory bowel diseases: such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can benefit from adding turmeric to the diet, a fact that was shown in research on mice. Researchers are not yet sure how the spice works but they speculate the results are not only due to the antioxidant nature of curcumin but that it also helps in inhibiting major cellular inflammation agents called NF Kappa-B.
Rheumatoid arthritis: Since the turmeric is a potent antioxidant, it is able to neutralize free radicals, which are responsible for many missed connections in our body and mind. Turmeric’s combination of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant may explain why many rheumatoid arthritis sufferers feel relief when they use turmeric regularly.
Cystic Fibrosis: Animal study, published in the magazine Science in 2004, show that turmeric can correct the most common expressions of the defect. Researchers know that cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition, is caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes protein. As a result, cells can not remove the toxins (chloride ions) because the protein is abnormally shaped and doesn’t create the channels needed for those function. The chloride builds up in the cells and leads to mucus production.
So far research has been done on a gene mutation called DeltaF508. When mice with the mutation were given curcumin, it corrected the defect resulting in normal looking proteins. Cystic Fibrosis experts caution against self medicating with dietary supplements until the correct dosage in humans is known.
Cognitive functions: because of the antioxidants in turmeric it is effective against free radical. Those elements float around and create short-circuits in the transmission of signals, the reason scientists believe, for an onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Cancer: Lab experiments show that curcumin can inhibit cancer cells from growing and metastasizing. Research published in the Biochemical Pharmacology magazine in 2005, shows how human breast cancer cells were injected into mice and the tumors removed, effectively simulating mastectomies.
The mice were divided into 4 groups: One was given cancer fighting drugs, the second group was given curcumin, the third was given the cancer drug and curcumin and the 4th group was given nothing to be used as control group. From the last group, 98% developed lung cancer, 75% of those who were given the drug alone developed tumors. 50% of the group given curcumin only had new growth but only 22% from the third group, those who were given turmeric and medication developed new tumors.
More research is being done on the influence of turmeric and onion in helping prevent colon cancer, how turmeric combined with cauliflower may help stop prostate cancer, and how turmeric can reduce the risk of childhood leukemia.
With so many benefits, why not spice up your life a bit?
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Benefits of Cinnamon

Health Benefits of Cinnamon

Posted in Healthy Food Guide, Herbs & Spices

Which one of us did not pass by a bakery and smelled the wonderful aroma of fresh baked goods mixed with the smell of sweet cinnamon? There is nothing more salivating than that.
But we immediately feel the pings of guilt. The calories in the dough, the sugars and the cinnamon. Empty calories that will add only pounds…
Stop right there. It turns out that cinnamon is actually very good for you.
Available in the form of a stick (called quill) and dry powder, cinnamon has a long history of being used in medicine as well as a spice to enhance the taste of foods. This fragrant spice is available throughout the year and holds many health benefits.
Ceylon cinnamon is the one which comes from Sri Lanka, but other countries that produce it include India , Madagascar, Brazil and the Caribbean. Another form of cinnamon, called Cassia, comes from China and is more available than the sweeter, more refined Ceylon cinnamon.
The medicinal use of cinnamon is well documented through history. From Dioscorides and Galen in ancient Greece who wrote about its therapeutic tendencies, to the Egyptians using it in the embalming process. Cinnamon has been used to alleviate indigestion, nausea, flatulence and intestinal spasms. In folk medicine it has been used to treat inflammations, rheumatism and be used as a ‘warming’ agent.
Three components in the essential oils found in this inner bark of a tree from the Cinnamomum family; the cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol are the ones who give it the most benefits. Cinnamon contains large amounts of manganese as well and one teaspoon has only 5.5 calories. You will rarely need to use as much.

Cinnamon: Health Benefits:

Anti Clotting agent: Cinnamon has anti blood clotting agents which help reduce the bad cholesterol and prevent plaque from building up. The anti clotting affect is important for optimum blood flow.
Anti Microbial: Cinnamon has the ability to help stop the growth of bacteria and yeast. In lab studies cinnamon helped stop Candida which was resistant to commonly used anti-fungal medication. A study published by the International Journal of Food Microbiology in 2003, cinnamon added to a carrot broth inhibited the growth of bacteria for at least 60 days. The cinnamon acts as a preservative.
Blood Sugar Regulator: Research done and published in the US National Library of Medicine, subjects were divided into two groups and given rice pudding. One group’s pudding included cinnamon. Their blood sugar levels were recorded after 8 hours of fasting. The researchers came to this conclusion: “The intake of 6 g cinnamon with rice pudding reduces postprandial blood glucose and delays gastric emptying without affecting satiety.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).
Studies in laboratories show that compounds in cinnamon stimulate insulin receptors and inhibited an enzyme that inactivates them. So the health benefits for those with type 2 diabetes can be substantial with only half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day.
Arthritis: In a study in Copenhagen University subjects were given half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder combined with honey every morning before the first meal of the day. After one week subject showed a significant relief of arthritis pain, which improved further after one month of usage.
Brain Function: Chewing cinnamon gum or just smelling cinnamon was found to increase cognitive processing in a 2004 study. When compared with peppermint and Jasmin, cinnamon came out as a clear winner.

Colon Health

The combination of high levels of manganese and dietary fiber, iron and calcium is very important in removing bile from the colon and prevent bile salts from creating damage to the colon walls. When the bile is removed, the body needs to break down cholesterol to make new one.
Cinnamon is also known for its warming qualities, especially in Chinese medicine and when added to cider on a cold winter night.
With so many benefits, and a great taste, no wonder cinnamon is used in many foods such as cereals and cookies.
So next time, when you think twice about the empty calories you eat, think about the benefits you can get from that magic compound – cinnamon.
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Fear and Acid

It was in bottles and it was in syringes. It was flung and it was squirted.
The acid that was used in the nearly 10 attacks that took place in Balochistan last week was probably cheaply and easily purchased without invoking any suspicion.
It was used without the threat of blame or fear of prosecution. Those who sold it, those who used it to maim and injure were all men. Those who bore the attacks were all women.
The cost to the criminals was so small; the price to the victims tremendously large. In this one sense, it represented a central truth of contemporary Pakistan; men commit crimes and women bear them.
The first set of attacks, took place in Pishin in the Tang District of Balochistan. Even while the burnt tissue still festered on the bodies of the victims; the case was sentenced into the silence of “family enmity”.
The infinite depths of that label, Pakistanis know, signal a case that merits no investigation and no resolution. “Family Enmity” stands for private parameters, endless whorls of vengeance, circuitous routes of causation and the complete and certain impossibility of justice. Family enmity cannot be touched by the state, by the courts, or the duties of citizenship.
After its appearance in the news story, we must wipe away the facts. As the Deputy Commissioner of Pishin optimistically concluded,
"Fortunately the faces of the women were saved; but their feet were injured in the attack."
Women with only acid maimed feet are the lucky ones in Pakistan.

Losing soul after face hurts more, says acid attack victim

The whole thing was instructive to the adherents of Balochistan’s myriad extremist groups; whose eager operatives are perpetually engaged in the search for cheap mixings of fear and control.
Acid kills everything and when nothing is left everything is pure. With this as their guiding principle, they drew up the mixture into syringes and set out for the markets of Sariab Road in Quetta. The shopping center was crowded with shoppers, naïve in their desires for celebration and adornment for the upcoming Eid celebration.
The men dove deep into the crowd, into parts that sold cosmetics, where only women should venture. In their pockets were the syringes of acid; in their minds the cruelties of purification through annihilation. Their victims were randomly selected; the unfortunate ones whose simple desires for face cream and rouge were enough to condemn them.
In Pakistan, the bodies of women do not belong to themselves; and their faces are the canvas of the countries cursed conscience. When they were close enough; the men removed their weapons, attacked the faces; destroyed the women. Then, they retreated and disappeared, never to be caught, blamed or punished.

Acid violence: Laws must meet action

Then, in Mastung, the acid attackers struck again, giddy at the ease with which they could disperse such terror with such ease. Riding motorcycles, they sprayed two teenage girls walking home from the market. The girls were already covered but not covered enough to have been spared the caustic burns from the corrosive liquid searing their skin.
The markets of Sariab Road in Quetta were quiet in the days following. Women, already all covered, realised now that they could never be covered enough; hidden enough or safe enough.

Acid attacks cast shadow of fear over women in Balochistan

Guns are cheaply available in Pakistan, but acid and a bag of cheap plastic syringes is even cheaper. In the womanless worlds of hate, they can be mixed together and stuffed away in male pockets; available and ready for the elimination of the feminine enemy of their fantasies. The threat of disfigurement is large and looming; but the distortion that allows the perpetrators to believe that they are doing divine work, is so much more grotesque.
The catastrophe of acid attacks is much discussed in the global sphere; much tweeted and hash tagged in the easy activism of social media. Its visual horror lends itself to the moral binaries on which the West erects its eastward condescensions.
In the end, it is only those in whose milieu the crime exists that can affect any real change. In Pakistan, these are the women and the men, all participants in the public sphere who can be soldiers on this battleground.

Acid attacks on women

The confrontation between those who believe that a womanless public sphere is a pure one; and those that wish it to be shared by men and women is taking place every day on the streets and markets of Pakistan.
In this fight, all must select a side; and all must understand that silence means a nod and a shrug; tacit permission granted for syringes full of acid, pointed now and forever at the faces of Pakistani women.