Re: Cayenne long term?

 Any dangers?

That depends.  In general it is safe and nutritious, especially for vitamin C and sulfur.  But cayenne is very high in salicylates, which presents two problems.  One is for people who have salicylate sensitivities/allergies.  The second is for people on blood thinners such as Coumadin (Warfarin). There is a common myth that cayenne is safe to take with Coumadin since it stops bleeding.  This is actually a dangerous myth since even if this were fully true countering the effects of Coumadin could be very dangerous to some individuals.  For example, people who have had heart valve transplants or pacemakers to name a few.  Then the claim that cayenne stops bleeding is only somewhat true.  If in direct contact with blood yes it can cause clotting due to the cellulose content, which acts as a substrate for the blood to coagulate on .  This means that using the reasoning that the people making this claim are using then all plants are blood clotters, including the blood thinning ones such as dan shen, ginger, vanilla leaf, sweet clover, etc.

Yet I have seen people make this claim that cayenne is safe to take with blood thinners such as Coumadin because they don't consider the chemistry of the plant and how it really works.  As pointed out though this can be extremely dangerous for some people.  And again emphasizes the point I keep making about people needing to learn the chemistry of herbs, how they work and how they interact before giving herbal advice.

Getting back to how cayenne can cause blood clotting and blood thinning, again the clotting factor is due to cellulose that acts as a substrate for coagulation to occur. I have used horsetail (shavegrass) powder for the same reason, in China they use charcoaled bamboo.  In the would if you injure yourself puffballs, lichens or mosses are a few of the various plants that can be used to stop bleeding since they also provide cellulose substrates.  So cayenne is not special in this aspect.  But again, in order for cayenne to have this effect it must actually contact the blood.  Since cellulose is not absorbed by the body and most people do not have gastrointestinal bleeding the cayenne is not going to really help with internal bleeding and thus the clotting ability is irrelevant.

Taken internally the cayenne is actually a blood thinner since the salicylates, which are natural aspirin compounds, prevent platelet adhesion.  Therefore cayenne taken internally can potentiate the effects of blood thinners such as Coumadin and even aspirin significantly increasing their dangers.

I find cayenne stimulates my bowels to have a movement. I am using about 1/4 teaspoon in my morning drink. I have read becAuse it's so stimulating it over time depletes things. The effect on my bowels though is great and I have always loved spicy (hot) foods.

Cayenne is stimulatory to the bowels due to the irritation is causes, which increases peristalsis.  But this does not necessarily mean it is going to deplete something from the body.  Unless you taking enough to cause diarrhea you should not have any problems.