Paprika

Looking for an easy way to spice up your dishes? Paprika packs a flavoursome punch, plus is bur sting with nutritious benefits

While this spicerack essential may look and taste great, it is also low in calories and full of health benefits

Sometimes it can be hard to eat well – especially when life is super-busy. But having small health boosts to hand can help you stay on track and turn an OK meal into a nutritious one. Paprika is one such health booster.

Part of the capsicum family – along with sweet bell peppers and the hot red ones – paprika is made by grinding air-dried peppers into a fine powder. Paprika is often used in cooking to add colour as well as flavour. While this spice-rack essential may look and taste great, it is also low in calories and full of health benefits.

The red in paprika is down to the carotenoids that it contains. These pigments, including lutein and zeaxanthin, are great for improved eyesight as they help prevent harmful light rays (including that from a mobile phone) from damaging the eye tissue. Betacryptoxanthin and beta-carotene are two other carotenoids, and they convert to vitamin A in paprika, helping with night vision and healthy cell development. Just one teaspoon of the spice contains around 30 per cent of your RDA of vitamin A.

Other key nutrients in paprika include vitamin B6, a coenzyme involved in hundreds of daily chemical reactions in the body; iron, which helps to carry oxygen through the body; and capsaicin, an active ingredient that helps to relax blood vessels and thereby reduce blood pressure.

In fact, paprika is a good source of many of the B vitamins that your body needs to support healthy brain function and make sure all your neurotransmitters – the chemical substance that allows your nerves and muscles to communicate with one another – can function properly. Emotionregulator dopamine and happyhormone serotonin function as neurotransmitters too, so regular paprika intake will also help you during times of stress.

Paprika also contains the electrolytes magnesium and potassium, which you need to replenish after exercise – a helping of paprika-rich goulash postworkout, anyone? It also contains copper, which is involved in the growth and maintenance of your bones, connective tissues and pretty much all your organs. Who knew that a pinch of this little red powder could have so many benefits?