Capsicum has a variety of uses outside of adding spice, flavor and color to food. There has been a lot of research that has been done or currently being done to find the positive uses of capsicum with pain management, diabetes control, cancer treatment, headache control, anti-inflammatory agent, obesity control, and sprays. 

When it comes to metabolic conditions and weight management, capsicum in a meal can decrease hunger and increase the feeling of fullness in an individual (Cayenne, 2014).  Studies have shown that on a healthy individual taking capsicum on a daily basis can also maintain a lower fat mass, suppress hunger, and maintain weight, lower glucose, and lower bad cholesterol.

For pain management more recently research has been looking at a single use of an 8% dosage patch for 60 minutes to help with pain management.  So far the use of an 8% patch has shown that it manages pain for 12 weeks in some patients.   The newer 8% dosage patch is designed to rapidly deliver the chemical to the skin while minimizing the negative effect

However, with all the advances and positive uses of capsicum being researched there are several negative effects to taking Capsicum such as, acid reflux, addiction to hot peppers, asthma, blurred vision, cough, damage to taste buds, heart attack, just to name a few.  And for those who don’t take a dosage of capsicum at any degree may suffer from those adverse effects even more. There is still a lot more we can learn about with capsicum. And over the next several weeks, I will get more in depth about capsicum.