 You are dining at your favorite upscale restaurant, and the wait staff comes over and offers to grind some fresh pepper onto your salad. Studies have shown that injecting the human equivalent of about a half cup of ground pepper into the veins of mice kills them in a slow agonizing way. But what have the new human studies shown? Who says black pepper is harmful? Back away from the table, leave mice out alone. Harmless? Could go either way. And who thinks the latest science suggests black pepper is actually nutritionally helpful? According to the latest and greatest, good for you. Anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, anti-cancer effects.