Pepper

NEWS: This superfood is now available in the SANEStore as a convenient whole-food powder so you can more easily enjoy it in smoothies and recipes.

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Click Here To Try It, Get Recipe Ideas, and Learn How Use It

Pepper is commonly described as the “king of spices,” and it shares a place on most dinner tables with salt. The word pepper originated from the Sanskrit word pippali, meaning berry. Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed.

Putting black pepper on your food may be one of the easiest, most economical ways to boost your overall wellbeing. Piperine, the main alkaloid from black pepper has been shown to substantially increase the bioavailability of the nutrients in foods and supplements. As the quality of food declines and the costs of food continue to skyrocket, it is increasingly important to your health that the nutrients you consume are able to be used to maximum efficiency by your body.

Piperine is a pungent compound found in the fruit of the plants in the Piperaceae family, the most famous member of which is Piper nigrum, black pepper. It has a long history of use in Ayurvedic medicine as a restorative food. Piperine may be able to increase bioavailability of many substances through a number of mechanisms. The results of these actions are that substances reach, enter and remain within their target cells for longer periods of time than would normally be the case. Therefore, piperine can turn a marginally effective therapeutic substance into a highly effective one by increasing its bioavailability and intracellular residency time.

Piperine works by supporting the digestive enzymes of the pancreas, thereby supporting digestive capacity and may significantly reduces gastrointestinal food transit time. Black pepper or piperine treatment has also been evidenced to support healthy lipid levels in vivo and beneficially influence the cellular status of organic sulfur compounds, antioxidant molecules, and antioxidant enzymes in a number of experimental situations of oxidative stress.

In a study reported in the September edition of the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology the effect of various doses of piperine was determined. Results showed that piperine at all dosage ranges used in the study possessed possible antidepressant like activity and cognitive enhancing effects at all treatment durations. Researchers determined that piperine is a functional food that may improve brain function.

The medicinal properties of various compounds such as curcumin cannot be well utilized because of poor bioavailability due to its rapid metabolism in the liver and intestinal wall. In an older study reported in Planta Medica, the effect of combining piperine, was evaluated to determine the bioavailability of curcumin in rats and healthy human volunteers. When curcumin was given alone to the rats, moderate serum concentrations were achieved over a period of 4 hours. When piperine was added with the curcumin, the serum concentration of curcumin increased for a 1-2 hour period. Time to maximum concentration was significantly increased while elimination half life and clearance significantly decreased. The bioavailability was increased by 154%. When curcumin was given alone to humans, serum levels were either undetectable or very low. Addition of piperine produced much higher concentrations from 0.25 to 1 hour following administration. The bioavailability of curcumin when taken with piperine increased 2000%.

When you use Z Natural Foods organic black pepper, you will be yielding between 5-10% piperine per serving. This is a simple and great add on to any dish to make the average meal into a superfood meal.
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Sound Promising?

Want to Try Adding a Convenient and Pure Powdered Form of This Whole Food to Your Smoothies and Recipes?

Click Here To Try It, Get Recipe Ideas, and Learn How Use It

Why Try Pepper Superfood?

May support brain health
May support a healthy mental outlook
May increase bioavailability of other nutrients and compounds
May support a healthy colon and bowel
May support a healthy inflammation response
May support the immune systems ability to prevent the formation of mutated cells

References

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