The hot hot cure for prostate cancer

Red hot chillies can slow down the development of prostrate tumors according to a new research.

17 March 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Most people might be familiar with that tongue-burning sensation that comes with chomping on those chili peppers (capsicum). How is that good news for cancer patients? According to U.S. and Japanese researchers the active chemical compound in hot peppers, capsaicin, can lead to prostate cancer cells killing themselves.

Research showed that tumors in mice which had been fed capsaicin were as little as one fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice. The process by which cells kill themselves, called apoptosis, was found in 80 per cent of the human prostate cancer cells in the mice. Capsaicin inhibited the activity of NF-kappa beta, a molecular mechanism that facilitated apoptosis in several cell types.

According to Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, "It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."

The mice were fed 400 milligrams of extract three times a week (three to eight fresh habanero peppers), roughly the amount a normal American male may consume, and according to Dr. Soren, "a profound anti-proliferative effect" was found.

American men are most susceptible to prostate cancer, with an annual death toll of 30,000 men, and with 232, 000 new cases diagnosed every year. Now hot peppers may provide some spicy relief.