No Warnings for Black Pepper

Salt's better half...

Health advocates may tell you to go easy on the salt, but there are no such warnings for black pepper -- and rightly so. Black pepper has numerous health benefits, particularly (and maybe surprisingly) taming indigestion.

The spice's effect on our taste buds signals the stomach to increase its secretion of hydrochloric acid, improving digestion once food reaches the stomach. As longtime readers are aware, Dr. Wright often says that heartburn, indigestion, and other GERD symptoms are the result of insufficient stomach acid (although many pharmaceutical companies would like you to believe the opposite so they can continue to ply their acid-reducing medications). Black pepper may help alleviate all these symptoms, and also reduce flatulence, too.

Black pepper has also been shown to have significant antioxidant and antibacterial properties, and the skin of whole peppercorns is thought to stimulate metabolism.

Not bad for something most people only think of as salt's sidekick...

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What is...Peyronie's disease?

Peyronie's disease is a severe bend or curve of the erect penis, which can make intercourse painful or impossible. The disease affects mostly middle-age or older men and is caused by scar tissue forming in the spongy tissue of the head and shaft of the penis. In the normal penis, this spongy tissue fills with blood during an erection. In Peyronie's disease, the rigid scar tissue doesn't expand during an erection, causing the penis to curves.

The disorder begins as a small bump on the shaft of the penis that enlarges. In about half of the men who experience this problem, the disease clears up on its own, usually within a year.

Yours in good health,
Amanda Ross
Editorial Director
Nutrition & Healing