Health Benefits — chili pepper health benefits

Sure, you may love the taste of hot peppers, but what if something that tasted great was also good for you? It turns out that’s the case with cayenne peppers. Not only can they be used to flavor just about anything, but they’re packed with a seemingly endless number of added health benefits.

You may love the taste of spicy food, and really, who doesn’t? But have you ever wondered why spicy food sometimes makes your nose run? The answer has to do with capsaicin. That’s the compound found naturally in hot peppers that makes them so hot.

Capsaicin has been used medicinally for centuries. Hot peppers were one of the first plants domesticated in the Americas. Archaeologists believe people in Mexico were eating chiles and peppers as early as 7000 BC. Ancient pain-relievers and other medications used capsaicin as a major ingredient.