Chili peppers 'kill prostate cancer'

Capsaicin, the ingredient which makes chilies and other red peppers hot, also makes prostate cancer cells commit suicide.

Researchers at UCLA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have published research that shows how capsaicin, the phytochemical that gives chilies and other red peppers their 'bite', can protect against prostate cancer.

Published in the Journal of Cancer Research the authors report that the chilie extract prevented both hormone dependant and hormone independent tumour cells from progressing. They did this though at least two known mechanisms.

Normal cells are programmed to die via a process called apoptosis. However cancer cells avoid apoptosis by mutating or deregulating the genes that instigate in this important mechanism. Capsaicin increases the amount of certain proteins involved in the apoptosis process thus ensuring that the prostate cancer cells lose the "immortality"  that they have when not subject to apoptosis.

Capsaicin also reduces the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein whch is often produced in large quantities by prostate tumours.

The authors of the study conclude that capsaicin could at some future date be used to treat existing prostate cancers. In the mean time it is obvious that  in this research we have more scientific evidence to show us that yet another spice is a potent cancer inhibitor. 

The quantity of capsaicin used in the experiments is equivalent to the amount the average person eating three jalepeno peppers a week would obtain from these spices. However it should be noted that excessive consumption of peppers should be avoided as all plant chemicals, when taken in excess, may have toxic effects. A good rule of thumb is that the quantities of spices included in the diet should approximate those used in traditional recipes.