One of the most powerful antioxidants is Turmeric.

It has long been used in most Asian food and is found in abundance in India. The health benefits of turmeric are numerous.

What many people do not realize is that Black pepper is another spice that also has many health benefits. Peppercorns come from piper nigrum which is an evergreen vine that produces white, green, and black peppercorns.

In order to get black pepper peppercorns have to be picked before they ripen and then left to ferment. The peppercorns are dried until they wither up and turn black. Most of the black pepper in the world comes from India.

While both black pepper and turmeric offer many health benefits on their own, it is the combination of the two that can be extremely beneficial.

One of the main problems with turmeric is that it has a low level of bioavailability. This means that the majority of curcumin from the turmeric that is ingested will be metabolized before it is absorbed. One of the chemicals that are found in black pepper is piperine.

There have been studies done that show that the piperine in black pepper actually makes the curcumin of the turmeric more bioavailable.

One of the reasons for this may be because the piperine inhibits some digestive enzymes found in the intestine. This can help increase the quantity of any type of supplement or drug that is absorbed through the body.

What this means is that when turmeric is used alone it is often unutilized by the body because all of the nutrients are metabolized before they are used. Mixing turmeric with black pepper can help improve the utilization of both spices in the body.

Health Benefits of Turmeric and Black Pepper

Some of the health benefits of turmeric and black pepper include:

• Pain reduction: the piperine found in black pepper can activate production of TRPV1, which can reduce pain.
• Anti-inflammatory: the curcumin in turmeric has been studied as an anti-inflammatory and has been used in treating ulcerative colitis, arthritis, as well as other inflammatory conditions.
• Preventing Cancer: both black pepper and turmeric have been studied for prevention of breast cancer. The studies have shown these spices help inhibit the growth of mammosphere formations, which cause breast cancer.

Overall, adding black pepper and turmeric to your regular diet can greatly improve your health in many ways.