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Long Pepper Alkaloids Curbed Weight Gain in Mice
Thai Long Pepper · ดีปลี · Piper retrofractum
Thai Long Pepper — ดีปลี (dee-plee) — Piper retrofractum.
It dries into a knobbly little spike, hard as a twig, and one bite runs hotter and sweeter than a black peppercorn, with a slow warmth that climbs the back of the throat. Cooks pound it fresh into nam prik and grind it into northern larb spice blends. Piperine gives it that heat; in high-fat-diet mice, alkaloids from the fruit curbed weight gain and blood fats. How to use Thai long pepper: the dried fruiting spike, a pinch at a time.
Long pepper is an old Thai spice making a comeback — a knobbly dried spike, hotter and sweeter than a peppercorn, ground into curry pastes and warming tonics. Isolated piperine can alter some medication levels, but that has not been shown for ordinary culinary doses of this whole fruit; ask your doctor before using concentrated products with prescriptions. Give the vine a trellis and it grows easily from cuttings when the rains come.
Laap Muang — ลาบเมือง (laap-muang)
Gaeng Pla Lai — แกงปลาไหล (gaeng-pla-lai)
Source: Kim KJ et al. (2011). Piperidine alkaloids from Piper retrofractum Vahl. protect against high-fat diet-induced obesity by activating AMPK. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. PMID 21741367. In-vitro antimicrobial: Int J Microbiol (2020). PMCID PMC7042530.
Educational content, not medical advice! Consult your doctor before changing diet or medication.
#LongevityBiome #ThaiHerbs #LongPepper
Food and nutrients
Rich in: fiber, iron, calcium
Research context
In high-fat-diet mice, alkaloids from the fruit curbed weight gain and blood lipids via AMPK — Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 2011