Habanero Pepper Nutrition Information

Even the smallest ingredients in low-fat meals have a nutritional impact. Habanero chili peppers, usually known for their extreme heat, provide vitamins and minerals while stimulating and challenging your taste buds.

Amino Acids

• Habanero peppers contain amino acids that help regulate body functions. Tryptophan helps generate serotonin, which regulates mood and sleep. If you have felt sedate or sleepy after eating a meal laced with chili peppers, you have experienced the affects of tryptophan. They also contain phenylalanine, which is converted to chemicals used by the brain and thyroid.

  Habanero peppers contain lysine. According to University of Maryland Medical Center, lysine isn't produced by our bodies, so all lysine must come from our food. Lysine plays a role in changing fatty acids into energy. It also helps with the absorption and storage of calcium in the body.

Vitamins

• Habanero chili peppers provide vitamin C, which is used in building collagen for bones, teeth and connective tissues. Vitamin C is water soluble, and not stored by the body.

  Habanero's also contain vitamin A, which helps maintain healthy eyes, hair and skin. They also contain folic acid, also known as vitamin B9 and folate, which plays a role in changing carbohydrates into glucose, or fuel.

Physical Benefits

• Substituting habanero peppers, and sauces made with them, adds spice to low-fat meals that might otherwise be bland. The spicy heat encourages perspiration, creating evaporative cooling during hot weather.

Warning

• Habanero peppers contain phenylalanine. People with a metabolic disorder, phenylketonuria, don't produce a critical enzyme. The build up of phenylalanine in the body can cause mental retardation, skin reactions and seizures.

Interesting Fact

• According to the Encyclopedia of Medicine, taking 1,000 mg of lysine three times per day may prevent cold sores.