Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.): An Alternative Food to Reduce Micronutrient Deficiencies in Human

Abstract

Hot peppers are good source of bioactive compounds particularly phytochemicals, capsaicin, oleoresins, and rich organic micronutrients with potential health benefits. It plays an important role in diets and possesses micronutrients. Micronutrient dietary deficiency remains a massive problem in the world which may cause several chronic health diseases. More than 2 billion individuals are facing micronutrient deficiencies, viz., zinc, iodine, and iron, followed by vitamins. Among various approaches to overcome human nutrition deficiencies, a diet with fruits and vegetables that are rich in micronutrients is considered as the best solution. Hot pepper consump-tion worldwide is well known for its high nutritional content which in turn reduces human micronutrient deficiencies. Thus sufficient amounts of micronutrients can be provided by incorporating the nutrient-rich pepper in diet that could beneficially help in combating nutrient deficiencies. Thus, in the present chapter, an overview of the micronutrient deficiency is described, and the nutrition status of hot pepper that utilized in eradicating human micronutrient dietary deficiencies is also discussed.