There's no other herb that increases your blood flow faster than cayenne. Cayenne moves blood. Cayenne pepper is at the top of the list of the 10 most important herbs to have in the home, because it will make the other nine work better.
Cayenne is used worldwide to treat a variety of health conditions, including poor circulation, weak digestion, heart disease, chronic pain, sore throats, headaches and toothache.
When taken internally, cayenne soothes the digestive tract and stimulates the flow of stomach secretions and saliva. These secretions contain substances that help digest food.
Cayenne is the greatest blood circulation stimulant known. You can take all the milk thistle you want, but if you have bad circulation to your liver, it's not going to do you any good. Cayenne increases your blood circulation immediately -- within seconds -- and to a greater extent than any other herb.
When you have a sick area in the body, there's often a restriction of blood flow to that area. Blood flow is what takes nutrition and the healing properties of herbs to those cells. Blood flow is also what carries out and removes waste material.
Cayenne pepper is like an explosive. It blasts through any blockage to get to the area that is sick, taking with it all the minerals and vitamins from the foods you eat and all the vital chemicals from the herbs you take through to the sick area.
People who aren't used to cayenne need to work their way up. Don't overdo it at first. For those who've never used cayenne pepper before, a good initial dosage is 1/16th of a teaspoon. Work your dosage up slowly. Put a small amount in some juice, stir it in thoroughly and drink.
It's recommended that cayenne powder be used, as opposed to capsules. Many herbalists believe that you're only getting a small part of the potential value of cayenne pepper by taking it in capsule form. When you put cayenne powder in your mouth, your stomach secretes digestive juices before the cayenne gets down there. So when the cayenne arrives, your stomach is ready for it.But if you swallow a capsule, your tongue tastes nothing. A capsule goes down into your stomach, and your stomach notices nothing -- at first. Then, five minutes later, the gelatin bursts; you have a half-teaspoon of cayenne pepper in your stomach, and your body is shocked. You took it by surprise.
What's going on here is that some of cayenne's healing action occurs right in your mouth. As cayenne touches your tongue, it starts to be absorbed in seconds, and your nerve endings transmit signals throughout the body -- sending waves of fresh blood wherever it's needed.
Cayenne may be taken at a dosage of 0.5 to 1 gram three times daily, before meals.
Cayenne has been known since the beginning of civilization in the Western hemisphere, having been a part of the local diet since about 7,500 B.C. The Spanish discovered the pods in the New World and brought them back to Europe. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the indigenous peoples throughout Central and South America used cayenne medicinally: The Mayans used it to treat asthma, coughs and sore throats, while the Aztecs used it to relieve toothache.
Ayurveda utilizes cayenne to treat poor digestion and bloating, and traditional Chinese medicine uses cayenne for digestive ailments. A preparation in the West Indies called Mandram, for weak digestion and loss of appetite, is made of thinly sliced and unskinned cucumbers, shallots, chives, onions, lemon or lime juice, Madeira and a few pods of Cayenne well mashed up in the liquids.
Cayenne adopts its name directly from that of the port capital of French Guiana, while capsicum -- the botanical name of the plant -- is so called after the Latin capsa, meaning a container. Cayenne was introduced into Britain in 1548, and John Gerard, in his 1633 Herball or General Historie of Plantes, mentioned it as being cultivated in his time.
Cayenne adopts its name directly from that of the port capital of French Guiana, while capsicum -- the botanical name of the plant -- is so called after the Latin capsa, meaning a container. Cayenne was introduced into Britain in 1548, and John Gerard, in his 1633 Herball or General Historie of Plantes, mentioned it as being cultivated in his time.
The constituents of cayenne are vitamin E, vitamin C, carotenoids and a chemical called capsaicin, which gives cayenne its medicinal properties. Capsaicin is also the ingredient that gives peppers their "heat." The hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it contains.In addition to adding heat to the pepper, capsaicin acts both to reduce platelet stickiness and to alleviate pain. Its mode of action in pain relief is thought to be from nerve endings releasing a neurotransmitter called substance P. Substance P informs the brain that something painful is occurring. Capsaicin causes an increase in the amount of substance P released. Eventually, the substance P is depleted, and further releases from the nerve ending are reduced.
Creams containing capsaicin have reduced post-operative pain for mastectomy patients and for amputees suffering from phantom limb pain. Prolonged use of the cream has also been found to help reduce the itching of dialysis patients, the pain from shingles and cluster headaches. Further research has indicated that capsaicin cream reduces pain associated with arthritis. The repeated use of the cream apparently counters the production of substance P in the joint, hence less pain. Reducing substance P also helps by reducing long-term inflammation, which can cause cartilage break down.