**2. Nutritional value and phytochemical constituents**

Chili peppers are a good source of dietary fiber, riboflavin, thiamin, folate, niacin, iron, protein, phosphorus, and copper. Aside from that, it also contains high amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin E, vitamin B6, potassium, and manganese [16]. The nutritional composition of chili peppers per 100 g is listed in **Table 2**. Chili fruits are also rich in many phytochemicals such as carotenoids (lutein, β-carotene,


*Pharmacological Properties and Health Benefits of* Capsicum *Species: A Comprehensive Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104906*


### **Table 2.**

*Nutritional composition of chili pepper (per 100 g).*

β-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin, and capsanthin), capsaicinoids (capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin, homocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, and nonivamide), and flavonoids (quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, catechin, epicatechin, rutin, apigenin, myricetin, and cyanidin) [17, 18]. The following **Figure 3** shows the chemical structures of the various phytochemical constituents.

### **Figure 3.**

*Chemical structures of various phytochemical constituents in chili pepper.*
