How many herbs and spices you could put on a list? You could test your own knowledge toward herbs and spices but in the end you will find that each country in this world may has its own favorite herbs and spices that only they could grow. However, there are some herbs and spices that seem so popular around the world, turmeric and cayenne pepper are among them because you couldn’t doubt the health benefits of turmeric and cayenne pepper as well as their ability to improve your spices-full dishes.

What Are Turmeric and Cayenne Pepper?

If you love spicy dishes you will be familiar with the combination of benefits of turmeric and cayenne pepper in one recipe because while cayenne pepper give the extra spicy flavor, the turmeric will improve the spicy effect by adding more yellowish color to the dish. One example of popular dish which is using that perfect combination is curry. Compared to European or American dishes, turmeric and cayenne pepper are more popular in Asia’s dishes such as Malay’s fish soup which popular in Indonesia and Malaysia, spicy shrimp soup well known as Tom Yam from Thailand, curry soup from India and so on. Not only that, turmeric and cayenne pepper also have some important medical properties that have been well known worldwide for over centuries.

Nutritional Values Contained in Turmeric and Cayenne Pepper

The medical properties found in turmeric and cayenne pepper comes from the amazing list of nutritional values contained in those both spices. The most significant property found in turmeric is the yellow pigment that forms the yellow color well known as curcuminoid while cayenne pepper is its distinctive spicy flavor. The yellow pigment and spicy flavor are the essential indication that both turmeric and cayenne pepper are packed with vitamin C benefits. However, it is not the only health benefits of turmeric and cayenne pepper and the list below will tell you more about their benefits.

1. Great for Weight Loss

Body detox is great for weight loss and turmeric is a natural solution to detoxify your body from the inside while cayenne pepper will detoxify your body by boosting the metabolism.

2. Prevents Cancer and Tumor

Both turmeric and cayenne pepper contains some active contents well known as antioxidants that could help preventing the development of cancerous cells that could lead to cancers and tumors.

3. Packed with Vitamin C

The bright yellow color of turmeric and the bright red color of cayenne pepper are the strong indication that both of them are packed with vitamin C.

4. Excellent Immunity Booster

As mentioned in the previous point, both turmeric and cayenne pepper are packed with vitamin C and one of the benefits of vitamin C is it is an excellent immunity booster, protecting your body from viral infections and providing one more layer from free radicals.

5. Home Remedy to Light Cold and Flu

Among the health benefits of cayenne pepper and turmeric, there is no a better home remedy to light cold and flu but a bowl of hot chicken curry with extra cayenne pepper and some pinches of turmeric. The vitamin C found in both spices is the reasons why your cold and flu are leaving you in such a rush.

6. Improves Appetite

There are some factors that could cause someone losing appetite such as during recovery stage or stressful situation. However, there is only one way to beat that which is consuming foods with extra cayenne pepper and turmeric.

7. Reduces the Risk of Diabetes

The properties found in both cayenne pepper and turmeric may help reducing the risk of certain types of diabetes because they could affect the insulin production and reduce the blood sugar level.

8. Excellent Body Detox

The burning sensation you get after consuming food with extra cayenne pepper will improve the production of sweat and sweat is one of the natural body detoxification process.

9. May Helpful to Manage Cholesterol Level

The fact that turmeric and cayenne pepper may be helpful to manage cholesterol level have been proven scientifically but you have to be careful with the choice of foods you choose because turmeric and cayenne pepper are nothing against cholesterol if they are added to beef curry or shrimp soup.

10. Manages the Blood Pressure

The burning sensation when you eat foods with cayenne pepper will activate the fibrinolytic activity that could help preventing blood clots. It means managing the symptoms of high blood pressure could be done in easier way.

11. Contains Anti-Bacterial Agents

Turmeric is excellent solution to fight infections caused by bacteria and the same thing applies to cayenne pepper as well.

12. Regulates the Menstruation Period

Women with menstruation period problem may add more cayenne pepper or turmeric to their daily diet to help regulating the menstruation.

13. Excellent for Skin Treatment

The common knowledge that spicy food is the root of acnes is just a myth. The fact is as anti-bacterial agents both turmeric and cayenne pepper are great to treat acnes as well as other skin conditions.

14. Could Act as Anti-Inflammatory Agents

Some scientific studies also have proven that both turmeric and cayenne pepper contains excellent anti-inflammatory agents to fight some conditions of inflammation.

15. Improves Digestion

If you have problems with constipation, adding more turmeric and cayenne pepper may help improving the digestion but too much will lead to conditions like diarrhea.

Cautions of Turmeric and Cayenne Pepper

No matter how beneficial turmeric and cayenne pepper for human health is still there are some things you should know to avoid all the side effects of the combination of those both spices. Below is the list of cautions that may occur when you eat too much turmeric or cayenne pepper in one time.

• Those who have sensitive stomach may need to eat food with turmeric and cayenne pepper in proper size only because too much of them could cause digestive disorder such as diarrhea, stomachaches.
• Though cayenne pepper may help pregnant women improves their appetite during morning sickness period but still too much of them may cause bloating while turmeric in high dosage could endanger the fetus due to its ability to affect the uterus.
• During chemotherapy is better to avoid consuming turmeric because according to some studies, turmeric in excessive amount could reduce the effect of chemotherapy.

The best way to avoid the worst effect of turmeric and cayenne pepper is by consuming them in moderate amount only. So far the amount of turmeric and cayenne pepper added to dishes are considered to be quite safe but the problems may occur when you consume the turmeric in the form of beverage because you need more than just a handful of it. However, it is quite rare to make beverage from cayenne pepper but those who love spicy food tend to add more and more of cayenne pepper because of the their endurance toward spicy food are also increased without realizing that it could be dangerous for their health.