Black Pepper

Black pepper plant with peppercorns growing.

Black Pepper (Piper nigrum) is considered the ‘King of Spices’ and is widely used to add flavour to dishes and enhance the taste and bioavailability of other ingredients such as turmeric, as well as for its food preservation and medicinal properties. The major bioactive compound in black pepper is piperine, which adds to other compounds to confer antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anticonvulsant and neuroprotective properties. Black pepper has been traditionally used to treat menstrual disorders, fever, ear nose and throat conditions such a cough, sinusitis, throat infection, and earache, as well as gastrointestinal disorders and skin diseases.


Takooree, H., et al., A systematic review on black pepper (Piper nigrum L.): from folk uses to pharmacological applications. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2019. 59(sup1): p. S210-S243.

What Extremely Alive Tonics Contain Black Pepper?