Pepper Heat by Alan Levine from Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/7867454194

Fair warning: Cayenne pepper is approximately 15,000 Scoville units… use caution!

Appetite Control & Weight Loss

Cayenne pepper has been used as a food additive to help control appetite. Researchers found that adding cayenne pepper to soup helped satiate hunger by the end of the meal. Also, the active ingredient in cayenne pepper, capsaicin, has been shown to increase fat burning. 

Metabolic Syndrome

Defined as “a coexisting of high blood glucose, obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension”, metabolic syndrome is a recipe for heart disease. Fortunately the active ingredient in cayenne pepper, capsaicin, has been show to be an effective tool to control metabolic syndrome.

Cancer

In addition to fighting metabolic syndrome, capsaicin also is responsible for killing off cancer cells (i.e., apoptosis). Cayenne pepper’s health benefit for cancer includes: pancreas,  colon, prostate, liver, esophageal, bladder, skin, leukemia, lung, among others.

Improves Exercise

Though it seems like some testosterone-filled ritual, but again capsaicin demonstrates a benefit to health. In a study focused on lower body strength training, those participants who used capsaicin instead of a placebo lifted a greater total mass during training.

Similarly, another study found capsaicin increased the time to exhaustion. This could boost exercise time before fatigue.