Reasons to increase your red pepper consumption

You already know that peppers add great taste to your dishes. I bet you don’t know what superior healing powers pepper has and how much they can promote your health. They come in different sizes and colour. Some pack heat, others are sweet. You can get them fresh, frozen or canned. You can eat them cooked or raw, and you can add them to every dish.

When working with hot pepper, remember that they can burn your skin and eyes. So, if you are the type that your hands always hurt anytime you touch hot pepper, you can wear rubber gloves while handling them, and keep your hands away from your face and eyes. Remember also to wash your hands thoroughly with soap, salt and water as soon as possible.

Some people believe that pepper has no benefit to the body, and that pepper is just added to food to improve taste. Believe me, after reading this piece, you might want to increase your intake of red pepper. So, here are five reasons to increase your red pepper consumption:

1. Red pepper contains more than 200 percent of your daily vitamin C intake: Besides being a powerful antioxidant, vitamin C helps the proper absorption of iron. If you are iron deficient, try combining red peppers with your iron source for maximum absorption.

2. Great source of vitamin B6 and foliate: Both these vitamins and minerals can help prevent anemia.

3. Help support healthy night vision: Red bell peppers are high in vitamin A, which helps to support healthy eyesight, especially night vision. So, when it comes to bell peppers, seeing red is a good thing.

4. Packed with antioxidants: The combined effects of vitamin A and C create a great antioxidant capacity, and with lycopene in the mix, the red bell pepper becomes a top notch super food. Lycopene is what makes tomatoes and peppers red. Red peppers are one of the highest veggies in lycopene, which has been shown to help prevent many cancers including prostate and lung.

5. Burn more calories: Recent research has shown that sweet red peppers can activate thermo genesis and increase metabolic rate. Red bell peppers do not contain capsaicin, which is what makes peppers hot and causes us to sweat, but they do have a mild thermo genic action that increases our metabolism without increasing our heart rate and blood pressure like the hot peppers do.

A little pepper may go a long way with your health; it might even help ward off breast cancer. A chemical compound in peppercorns called piperine may be able to help prevent a breast cancer tumour from developing. Why not increase your red pepper intake today to help burn some calories and fight some health issues.

By Mercy Kukah