Green chili is a staple of Indian and South American diets. The chili is the fruit of the flowering plants Capsicum annuum and C. frutescens. Green chili is mainly used as a spice in food, although it is included in some medicines. It yields an oil that is viscous, sharp and pungent, and can also serve as a seasoning. The chili can also be ground into a powder to use for similar purposes.
Green chilies are famous for the intense bitterness and the amount of heat it produces after consumption. However, a series of studies claim that the addition of green chilies in foods provide a lot of health benefits.Here are some of the lesser-known benefits of adding chili to the food we consume:
Green chilies have high Vitamin A and Vitamin C content: The fresh green chili is rich in Vitamin C, while the dried version is rich in Vitamin A.
A good source of Potassium and Iron: Green chilies contain Vitamins B and E also, and is low on calories (due to very low amounts of fat and cholesterol)
Dietary Fiber:Green chili has a large amount of dietary fiber -- 2 teaspoons of dried chili powder contains 10 percent of the Daily Value for fiber recommended by the Food and Drug Administration. Dietary fiber is indigestible and passes through the digestive system, pushing out waste. It also contributes greatly to satiety. Fiber can prevent constipation and help maintain a healthy weight as well as promote digestive health, particularly in the intestines.
The burn experienced by eating chili helps digestion: A chemical named Capsaicin and the seeds give green chili the heat, which helps in dissolving blood clots and improve digestion.
Green chili treats wrinkles, health of your heart: It burns a lot of calories, and decreases your appetite to some extent.
It helps dissolve blood clots and aids in digestion. Capsaicin as a drug has be prescribed to treat wrinkles, heart health and facial twitching. It actually burns calories by increasing your metabolism, as well as curbing your appetite. Capsaicin also releases endorphins in the brain and puts chili eaters in a better mood. Capsaicin creams have also been used as anti-inflammatory medicine and in the treatment of arthritis.
Chillies contain good amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, iron, and magnesium. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase.
They are often used as a hot spice, providing a spicy nature to the food, especially in ethnic cuisine such as Mexican, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Arab, and Spanish cooking.
It helps build your immune defense system
Chilies can also help prevent serious problems like cancers along with inhibiting the growth of leukemia and prostate cancer cells.
They are excellent medicines for lungs as they act as decongestants. Chilies seem to have an anti-inflammatory property and have also been found to protect the lung tissue. In this way it has shown to cut the recovery time of colds and flu’s in half when taken liberally in the early stages of these diseases."
Chilly aids digestion by increasing blood flow which improves efficiency, reducing gas and increasing the absorption
Working as a thermogenic agent, capsaicin in chilies provides an extra boost to a weight-loss program It actually burns calories by increasing your metabolism, as well as curbing your appetite.
Chillies are also good in B-complex group of vitamins such as niacin, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish.
Chilli peppers have amazingly high levels of vitamins and minerals. Just 100 g provides (in % of Recommended daily allowance)
240% of vitamin-C (Ascorbic acid),
39% of vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine),
32% of vitamin A,
13% of iron,
14% of copper,
7% of potassium,
but no cholesterol.
