Inside plants
Pepper may make meals more nutritious
January/February 2000
By C. Leigh Broadhurst, Ph. D., and James A. Duke, Ph. D.
Pepper is a favorite table spice, one that
centuries ago was traded like gold. But a chemical component that
helps the body more readily absorb drugs and nutrients may make
pepper valuable for health too.
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Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is the best-known pepper species and
a popular spice. It single-handedly accounts for about 35 percent
of total world spice trade. Long pepper (P. longum) is also popular
and is used primarily as a medicinal plant in traditional Ayurvedic
medicine.
Research shows that in both peppers an alkaloid phytochemical
called piperine is responsible for the spice’s pungent flavor and
its ability to enhance the bioavailability of other compounds.
The exceptional alkaloid
Unlike most alkaloids, which tend to be bitter, piperine tastes
pleasant. Also unlike many other alkaloids, piperine is not harmful
in high daily doses. These characteristics make piperine
particularly suitable for its medicinal role: making drugs and
nutrients more bioavailable by increasing absorption in the gut and
slowing the rate at which drugs in particular are neutralized and
eliminated. The body considers drugs and most phytochemicals
foreign substances, so it begins working to detoxify and eliminate
them immediately after absorption—regardless of whether the goal is
to keep them circulating. Slowing this elimination process is key
to getting the most benefit from pharmaceutical drugs or medicinal
herbs, a service that piperine handily provides. Coadministering
piperine also means using lower doses of dangerous or expensive
drugs and herbs to achieve desired results.
Enhancing nutrient absorption
Piperine also may be more effective at increasing absorption of
nutrients. This is because, unlike drugs, the body recognizes
nutrients and wants to use them, not eliminate them. In five
different human studies, 5 mg of standardized piperine (Bioperine)
was administered simultaneously with standard doses of the
nutrients beta-carotene, selenium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and
coenzyme Q10. A control group received the nutritional supplements,
but no piperine. Researchers found the nutrients at significantly
higher blood levels in study participants who took the piperine
than in those who did not.