I got this from www.cnn.com, but to the contrary ppl with prostatitis
are not suppose to eat spicy food, wonder if its because its effective
against bacteria.?????

Salsa herb holds health benefit

Study finds compound in cilantro kills harmful bacteria
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Posted: 3:44 PM EDT (1944 GMT)  


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Another reason to eat spicy foods: cilantro,
an herb key to many cuisines and central to salsa, can kill food
poisoning bacteria, researchers said on Tuesday.

U.S. and Mexican researchers said they had identified a compound in
cilantro that kills harmful Salmonella bacteria. They hope it can be
developed into a safe food additive that could help prevent foodborne
illness.

The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry, shows why salsa, a staple of Mexican food, and many other
spicy foods seem to have innate antibacterial activity. It fits in
with other studies done over the years that show popular spices can
keep food from spoiling.

The compound, called dodecenal, is found in the fresh leaves and the
seeds of cilantro, also known as coriander.

In lab dishes dodecenal was twice as effective as the commonly used
antibiotic drug gentamicin against Salmonella, a frequent and
sometimes deadly cause of foodborne illness.

"We were surprised that dodecenal was such a potent antibiotic," Isao
Kubo, a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley who led the
study, said in a statement.

But it is not potent enough to fight food poisoning in naturally
occurring amounts, Kubo said.

"If you were eating a hot dog or hamburger you would probably have to
eat an equivalent weight of cilantro to have an optimal effect against
food poisoning," Kubo said.

Kubo's team also found a dozen other antibiotic compounds in fresh
cilantro that showed some activity against a variety of harmful
bacteria.