The most important medicinal benefits of black pepper

Black Pepper

Black pepper is so common that it’s easy to dismiss as a culinary spice used simply for taste, but there’s a reason this spice was once called black gold. Besides being flavorful, black pepper strongly supports digestion. As you’ll see, it has been used for many different ailments. It is the most popular spice of our modern day and accounts for a fifth of the total spice trade in the world.1

What I find most amazing about black pepper is its ability to help you increase your absorption of nutrients from your food. I suggest keeping a pepper grinder full of whole peppercorns near your eating areas so that you can habitually add black pepper as a finishing touch to all your meals.

Botanical name: Piper nigrum

Family: Piperaceae

Parts used: berries

Energetics: warming, drying

Taste: pungent

Plant properties: antimicrobial, antioxidant, antispasmodic, carminative, circulatory stimulant, stimulating diaphoretic, 

stimulating expectorant

Plant uses: fevers, mucus congestion, slow or stagnant circulation, increasing bioavailability of other herbs, hemorrhoids, gentle laxative, arthritis

Plant preparations: food spice, tea, tincture, pastilles

Before we look at the many medicinal benefits of black pepper, let’s get some glimpses of its fascinating history. Pepper has been in common use in India for at least 4,000 years, and presumably much longer.

It spread from there to the ancient Egyptians and Romans. Our knowledge of peppercorns in ancient Egypt is limited. After the death in 1213 B.C.E. of the great pharaoh Rameses II, black peppercorns were stuffed in his nostrils as part of the mummification process. Flash forward 1,500 years, and we have a Roman cookbook from the 3rd century C.E. 

Pepper took a spotlight during the height of the early European spice trade routes. During the Middle Ages, peppercorns were considered an important trade good. They were referred to as “black gold” and were even used like money to pay taxes and dowries.

TYPES OF PEPPERCORNS

When buying whole peppercorns, you will notice red, white, and green varieties in addition to the common black. All of these come from the same plant but are prepared differently to achieve the different looks and slightly different tastes.

Black peppercorns are harvested when unripe, boiled briefly, and then dried in the sun.

White peppercorns are harvested when fully ripe. Their outer flesh is removed so that only the seed remains.

Green peppercorns are harvested when unripe, then treated to preserve the green coloring (usually through freeze-drying, pickling, or other means).

Red peppercorns are harvested when fully ripe, then treated to preserve the red coloring.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES AND ENERGETICS OF BLACK PEPPER

Black pepper has a broad range of use. Its hot and stimulating characteristics make it useful for a variety of cold and flu symptoms such as fevers with chills (stimulating diaphoretic) and for mucus congestion (stimulating expectorant). Black pepper quickens the circulation by increasing blood vessel size and can be used for signs of stagnant circulation (such as cold hands and feet). It is also used topically for arthritic pain.

FOR INCREASING BIOAVAILABILITY

What I find most amazing about black pepper is its ability to increase the amount of nutrients that you absorb. This is referred to as potentiating bioavailability, and black pepper can do this with herbs, foods, and even pharmaceutical drugs.2 In practical terms, adding a bit of black pepper to herbal formulas or to your dinner plate means that you have potentiated the qualities and nutrients of the healthy foods you are eating. This is why it’s my most frequently used spice. It makes sense to try to get the most nutrients out of our food, and black pepper can help!

A well-known example of black pepper’s ability to dramatically increase nutrient absorption is the

effect of adding it to curcumin, an extract of turmeric. One study reported that piperine, an extract of black pepper, increased the bioavailability of curcumin by 2,000 percent.3 Piperine also has been shown to increase the bioavailability of echinacea and berberine-containing plants like goldenseal.4,5

Besides increasing the bioavailability of herbs, it has been shown that piperine can dramatically increase absorption of coenzyme Q10, beta-carotene, selenium, and vitamin B6.6,7,8

An article in the International Journal of Recent Advances in Pharmaceutical Research says it may work for the following reasons:

It acts as a circulatory stimulant by increasing the size of blood vessels, which helps to transport nutrients around the body.

It modulates the physical properties of cell membranes, which helps transport nutrients through barriers.

It produces a thermogenic effect in the gastrointestinal tract, which increases blood supply to the area.9

FOR DIGESTIVE ISSUES

Besides adding a pleasant taste to our food, there’s another reason that black pepper is found on practically every dinner table in homes and in restaurants. Black pepper supports healthy digestion.

Do you ever feel like food is just sitting in your stomach, or do you have other signs of slow digestion, like bloating or gas? Black pepper’s spicy attributes warm digestion to get things moving. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it can also be used to stop diarrhea, even when used externally. One study showed that stir-fried white pepper effectively stopped both chronic and acute diarrhea in infants and children when applied externally over the navel.

HOW TO USE BLACK PEPPER

To get the most out of your pepper, buy whole peppercorns and then grind them as needed. Once they are ground, the aromatics evaporate quickly, so old ground pepper is of little benefit.

RECOMMENDED AMOUNTS

Adding freshly ground pepper to your meals is a great way to enjoy the benefits of this spice. If using black pepper for more therapeutic reasons, such as for arthritis or cold and flu symptoms, the recommended therapeutic amount ranges from 1 to 15 grams per day.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Large doses of black pepper may cause nausea and digestive upset. It could potentially act as a synergist with many pharmaceutical drugs, which means it can increase the effects of a drug in unexpected ways. If you are taking pharmaceuticals, consult with your doctor before taking anything more than a normal culinary amount of black pepper.