Chile does a lot more than spice up your food.
Chile’s heat comes from an internal compound called “capsaicin,” found primarily in the pepper’s seeds.
Did you know that hot chiles actually heal?
Chile actually has more vitamin C!
According to health and wellness expert, Suzy Cohen, capsaicin helps with neuropathy, or nerve pain. A variety of syndromes, including post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), autoimmune disorders, can be helped by chile. Diabetes is a global epidemic, but there is still so much not known regarding how to relieve and cure it. Capsaicin is helpful in relieving the associated diabetic neuropathy.
Cohen notes that, “putting the ‘flame’ on pain helps reduce it.”
Chile as a topical solution. Applying capsaicin to the skin may cause some pain initially, but only briefly. After a few applications, the local pain nerves are numbed and neuropathy is less acute. This happens because chile applications repeatedly stimulate TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid-1) nerve fibers.
Dietary chile. A 2012 study tested the idea that by ingesting capsaicin, glucose homeostasis might be regulated. By revving up TRPV1 receptors signal insulin secretion in your digestive tract is achieved. Due to insulin increases, blood glucose is effectively lowered as is glucose tolerance, and associated diabetic problems are lessened.
If all it takes is a bit of “hot stuff” added to our food to benefit significantly, why not sprinkle cayenne in our guacamole or add a few chiles to our stews?
Synthetic chile. Prescribed, synthetic forms of capsaicin are offered in the form of OTC patches or capsaicin cream. Recent studies show that patients using capsaicin cream saw a nearly 70 percent reduction in neuropathic pain symptoms. Capsaicin use, controlling blood sugar, and reining in other cytokines are key to reducing diabetic neuropathy pain.
A 2013 study in Current Medicinal Chemistry indicated that oral resveratrol eases diabetic neuropathy as well. According to Cohen, resveratrol reduces the “pins and needle sensations,” numbness, and cell death.
Read the full article here: How Chile Relieves Diabetic Neuropathy and Nerve Pain
