Cayenne is often referred to as red pepper, and its color should indicate its potential health benefits. The more colorful the herb, vegetable or fruit, then the higher its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to the highly colored flavonoids, flavanoids, antioxidant terpenoids, polyphenols and other phytochemicals that provide such biochemically active plants with their color.

Cayenne can help to prevent the free-radical oxidative damage to LDL cholesterol in your blood that causes it to form plaques in your arteries and eventually block them, leading to heart failure and strokes. It can help to prevent free-radical damage to your DNA, your skin cells and to the fat deposits under your skin, and so help to prevent the visible signs of aging such as age or liver spots, wrinkles and general degradation of your bodily tissues.

Cayenne is packed full with the antioxidants that neutralize free radicals immediately they are formed to prevent them from disrupting the cell membranes and other tissues that are important factors in the healthy look and youthfulness of your skin and other body tissues. Whether you are 18 or 80, free radicals can play havoc with your looks. Cayenne supplements can help prevent that.

Cayenne supplements have many uses, not the least of which is keeping you looking good as you age. If your looks count to you, the a cayenne supplement can help destroy the free radicals that will cause your skin to wrinkle, your body to start looking aged and your supple skin to be replaced by creaking old leather. These same free radicals also cause your arteries to be clogged with cholesterol deposits, and can even lead to cancer.

A daily cayenne supplement can help your liver to expel poisons and toxins from your blood, get your blood pressure on an even keel and even help to reduce the sugar levels in your blood. The capsaicin alkaloids contained within a cayenne supplement work with the antioxidant vitamins A and C, and the carotenoids capsanthin, carotein and lutein to help maintain the health of your whole body from your eyes to your heart. Cayenne is a powerful supplement to take, and were you to take only one in your entire lifetime, cayenne would a top candidate - way above almost all other herbal extracts.

Cayenne is a highly colored supplement - powdered cayenne pepper is a rich, deep red color that should inform you of its health benefits. Cayenne contains large quantities of flavonoid antioxidants and polyphenols that help to rid your body of damaging free radicals. A supplement of cayenne also enables your blood vessels - your arteries, veins and capillaries - to remain supple and flexible, and meet your body's needs when called upon in times of stress rather than break down and result in aneurisms and strokes.

Its anti-inflammatory properties help to accelerate wound healing and to reduce the swelling and pain of arthritis. The same properties help you fight allergies, and reduce the severity of insect bites and stings, and also reduce the irritating effects of allergens on your skin and respiratory system.

Cayenne is more than just a culinary pepper - in fact its traditional medicinal uses outdate and by far outweigh its use in cookery. If you feel you need a general stimulant then cayenne fits the bill perfectly, and it will also help your bowels to remove mucus and other long-standing deposits on the internal surface of your intestines and colon, thus improving your gastrointestinal health and regularity.

Cayenne pepper is thermogenic, meaning that it generates heat within your body. Any heat generated in your body must have an energy source, and therefore must be connected with weight or fat loss within your tissues. Although cayenne is not a published fat-loss supplement, it does have that effect and as it introduces that natural warmth within your body, it also gently stimulates the peristaltic pumping action of your intestine and so helps to promote a natural bowel movement.

That does not suggest that it can be used as a laxative, but that a regular supplement of cayenne will help to promote normal and regular bowel function. This property of a cayenne supplement also helps to alleviate and prevent muscle cramp, normalize blood pressure and also help to repair stomach and intestinal ulcers.

Cayenne is a general whole-body stimulant, helping to fight infection, relieve pain and promote the sweating and increase in body temperature that renders conditions unfavorable to bacteria and viruses. It is an excellent general tonic and the perfect regular health-maintenance supplement.