Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves.
Benefits
Capsaicin may have anti-obesity, antioxidant, anti-inflammation and
anti-cancer benefits and perhaps act as an antimicrobial.
Capsaicin for pain relief
Danish researchers say purified capsaicin reduces pain for at least
three days following groin hernia surgery without causing any significant
side effects. Dr. Eske Aasvang and colleagues at the Juliana Marie Center
in Copenhagen, Denmark, tested 41 men getting hernia operations. Half got
injections of purified capsaicin, which is odorless and tasteless. The
rest got placebos. All of the men also got the painkillers ibuprofen and
acetaminophen. The men injected with capsaicin had significantly less pain
during the three days after surgery than those given placebo.
The pain reducing benefits of this substance is not very strong
compared to pharmaceutical pain relievers.
Diabetic painful neuropathy
Ther Adv Chronic Dis. 2015.Treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy. Painful
diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a debilitating consequence of diabetes that may be
present in as many as one in five patients with diabetes. Clinical guidelines
recommend pain relief in PDN through the use of antidepressants such as
amitriptyline and duloxetine, the γ-aminobutyric acid analogues gabapentin and
pregabalin, opioids and topical agents such as capsaicin.
Capsaicin and pancreatic
cancer
Capsaicin, when fed to mice, causes apoptosis
death in pancreatic cancer cells. The spicy compound kills pancreatic
tumor cells but does not affect normal, healthy pancreas cells.
Prostate cancer
Capsaicin led 80 percent of human
prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as
apoptosis. Prostate
cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in
untreated mice. Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative (anti-growth) effect on human
prostate cancer cells in culture. It also slowed the development of prostate
tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models. The mice ate the
human equivalent of 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week. That is
about the amount found in three to eight fresh habanero peppers, depending on
how hot the peppers are.
Capsaicin skin patch for HIV
patients
Treatment with a high-concentration capsaicin
skin patch is a well-tolerated method of reducing the neurological pain in
patients with HIV infection. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 2008.
Capsaicin nasal spray for
allergies
Sinol-M, a natural nasal spray, whose main ingredient is capsaicin derived from
hot peppers, safely and effectively relieves stubborn nasal allergies. Dr.
Christos Efessiou, CEO of Strategic BioSciences, began to market the product in
March 2009. The study findings were presented at the 47th annual meeting of the
Western Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Maui, Hawaii in February
2009. In their study, the research team gave Sinol or Sinol-M to 24 people aged
13 and older who suffered from persistent allergic rhinitis (better known as hay
fever) to use for a week. They were instructed to use one spray in each nostril
as needed up to 12 times a day for the1 week. After a week-long "washout"
period, they crossed over the other formulation. Both Sinol and Sinol-M
significantly reduced all nasal allergy symptoms, compared to the pre-treatment
and washout periods. The study was supported by a research grant from Strategic
BioSciences, the District of Columbia-based company that has licensed its
patented mucoadhesive technology to Sinol USA for the development of Sinol-M.
Research studies
Effects of capsaicin on P-gp function and expression in Caco-2
cells.
Biochem Pharmacol. 2006.
Capsaicin is the pungent component of hot chilli, a popular spice in
many populations. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the
chronicity and reversibility of the modulating effect of capsaicin on both
the P-gp expression and activity in the Caco-2 cell monolayers. Capsaicin
at concentrations ranging from 10 to 100muM, which were found to be non-cytotoxic
towards the Caco-2 cells, were observed to inhibit P-gp mediated efflux
transport of [(3)H]-digoxin in the cells. The acute inhibitory effect was
dependent on the capsaicin concentration and duration of exposure. In
summary, our data suggest that caution should be exercised when capsaicin
is to be consumed with drugs that are P-gp substrates. In particular, the
oral bioavailability of these drugs may be influenced by the P-gp status
of populations that rely heavily on hot chilli in their diets.