Wednesday, 15th March 2006
Science & Technology
Wed 15 Mar 2006


Chillis 'shrink tumours and kill cancer cells'
IAN JOHNSTON SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

THE hottest peppers in the world can kill prostate cancer cells and
dramatically reduce the size of tumours, according to new research.
Scientists in the United States found capsaicin - the substance that
makes hot peppers burn the tongues of chilli fans - had a "profound
effect" on human prostate cancer cells grown in the laboratory and on
the same cells grown in mice.
The mice were fed a dose of pepper extract equivalent to up to eight
habañera peppers, the highest rated pepper on the Scoville heat
index. They contain as many as 300,000 Scoville units, compared to
jalapenos, which have between 2,500 and 5,000 units.
A prostate cancer charity said the research might eventually lead to a
new drug, but warned patients against trying to cure themselves by
eating hot chillis, as these have been linked to high rates of stomach
cancers in India and Mexico.
Dr Sören Lehmann, of the University of California's school of
medicine in Los Angeles, who is one of the authors of a paper published
today in the US journal Cancer Research, said: "Capsaicin had a profound
anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture.
"It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumours formed
by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."
Capsaicin caused about 80 per cent of the prostate cancer cells grown in
mice to commit suicide, a natural process called apoptosis which all
cells are programmed to do. Cancer occurs when this process stops and
cells seek immortality, growing into tumours that spread throughout the
body, causing ultimately fatal damage.
Prostate cancer tumours treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the
size of tumours in non-treated mice, the researchers found.
In prostate cancer cells - whose growth is dependent on testosterone,
the predominant male sex steroid - capsaicin reduced their spread
depending on how much was used. Increased concentrations of capsaicin
caused more prostate cancer cells to freeze in a "non-proliferative
state".
Dr Lehmann estimated that the dose of pepper extract fed to the mice was
equivalent to giving 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week to a
man weighing 14 stone - roughly equivalent to between three and eight
fresh habañera peppers.
However Chris Hiley, the Prostate Cancer Charity's head of policy and
research, said: "This is interesting laboratory-based work on cells, but
we don't yet know how, if at all, it might help men with prostate
cancer. Eventually, it may be possible to extract the capsaicin and make
it available as a drug treatment.
"In the meantime we caution men with prostate cancer in the UK against
upping their weekly intake of the hottest known chillis. High intake of
hot chillis has been linked with stomach cancers in the populations of
India and Mexico."
Instead, he said men with prostate cancer would be better advised to
avoid fatty foods, eat less red or processed meat and have more fish,
fruit and vegetables.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=385492006
Last updated: 15-Mar-06 01:30 GMT

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc