dry alligator pepper

See Source

Introduction

In Nature Our Medicine - I am going to be discussing some random crude drugs I find exciting; particularly some underutilized medicinal fruits, herbs, seeds, roots, leaves, stem, etc that will be of benefit to this community and beyond. This is a branch of pharmacy called pharmacognosy. In these series, I will try to make it simple such that a layman can easily comprehend what I am saying.

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Today, I am going to be talking about alligator pepper whose botanical name is Aframomum melegueta. This is a seed from alligator fruit which is a herb native to West Africa. The seed is routinely used as spice by locals in many cultures across West Africa. It is also widely used as cola and is often presented alongside cola nut to a visitor as a sign to the visitor that he is most welcome.

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Alligator pepper has been vastly studied and its benefits authenticated. The most crucial benefits of alligator pepper is coming from the anti-lipidemic, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties of the seed.

There are documentations showing many uses of alligator pepper in hypertension, Sexual dysfunction, gastrointestinal tract disorders such as worms, stomach pain, ulcers and diarrhea, etc.

Source alligator pepper plant

Alligator Pepper

This is a herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family otherwise known as Zingiberaceae in botanical classification. It is native to West Africa but can be found in other parts of Africa where traveling and emigration has taken it to. The plant bears fruit which is pod-like with enclosed seed. Usually the pod-like fruit matures into a reddish or orange pod with seeds enclosed. The pungency of the seed's aroma is increased after the drying of the pod under the sun or in a normal shed.

Uses

Alligator pepper has very strong antimicrobial effect and thus is used in bacterial diseases of the gastrointestinal tract such as diarrhea and bacteria food poisoning. It is also used to treat ear nose throat (ENT) infections. Example, cough and catarrh but most importantly, sore throat.

It can also be taken morning and evening by hypertensive patients to ameliorate hypertensive conditions due to its natural anti-lipidemic properties.

You should consider eating some alligator pepper as a woman or man if you have low sex drive. Men should particularly eat it if there is proven case of erectile dysfunction or inability to maintain erection for an optimal sexual activity. Generally speaking, alligator pepper is a powerful aphrodisiac which improves sexual desires in both male and females and particularly enhances sexual activity in men.

Safety

Unlike conventional medicine, natural products like alligator pepper are safer for consumption with minimal side effects. This puts crude medicinal products at advantaged position over conventional chemical compounds.

Contraindication

From a study carried out in University of Epoma, Nigeria, it was shown that alligator pepper adversily affected the ability of some randomized mice for child birth in early trimester. Based on this, alligator pepper should be avoided by pregnant women. ¹

Reference

http://www.bioline.org.br/request?np09028 ¹

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