Help against cancer: slow the growth of tumor cells with "hot" food choices

Source: https://www.naturalhealth365.com/capsaicin-stops-cancer-cells-3735.html

Written by: Karen Sanders, February 19, 2021.

Did you know that the 'heat' you feel after biting into a hot chili pepper is actually good for you? A compound called capsaicin – which causes this fierce heat – has been found to kill cancer cells. Over the past few years, chili peppers have been the subject of studies targeting many organs, including the pancreas, brain, prostate, colon, and breast. In a 2020 study published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, the authors confirmed capsaicin's powerful anti-inflammatory properties. cancer in different types of cancer. Additionally, researchers have found that combinations of capsaicin with conventional chemotherapy drugs improve patient health, reducing drug side effects and increasing patient tolerance to cancer therapies.

Can chili peppers harm healthy cells?

To date, numerous studies have been conducted on the ability of chili peppers to fight cancer cells in the multitude of organs that were affected. Among them, a study on prostate cancer cells from 2006 attracted the special attention of researchers. Experiments with capsaicin reveal that this compound specifically targets tumors and cancer cells without affecting healthy cells.
Researchers have discovered that capsaicin can do this by disrupting protein synthesis in cancer cells, destroying cellular DNA, and disrupting the cellular transcription mechanisms of malignant cells. While capsaicin affected the mitochondrial pathway of cancer cells, it did not interfere with the activity of healthy cells. This has been observed in laboratory studies, where cancer was induced in albino rats.

A 2006 study published in Cancer Research found that capsaicin was effective in inhibiting prostate cancer cells. That study found that capsaicin induced automated cell death in primary types of prostate cancer cell lines and hormone-induced cancer cells.
Furthermore, capsaicin decreased the expression of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and inhibited the ability of dihydrotestosterone to activate PSA. When laboratory animals were treated with capsaicin for four weeks, prostate cancer significantly slowed its growth and decreased in size.

This spicy food choice does MORE than just prevent cancer

Compounds in chili peppers are associated with multiple benefits: they improve the immune system's response, stimulate weight loss, reduce the risk of diabetes and improve heart health. A randomized cross-over study of 27 healthy subjects found that eating freshly chopped chilies prevented oxidation (that is, free radical damage) of fat cells—which was a crucial factor in reducing heart problems.
Capsaicin also has anti-inflammatory properties. It inhibits substance P, a neuropeptide associated with inflammation that results in pain, heart disease and other conditions. Because of this property, it has been used in various chemotherapy studies for pain relief and many therapies involving nerve fiber disorders, conditions such as psoriasis, arthritis and many others.
Researchers say that the hotter the pepper, the higher the capsaicin content. Good examples include the habanero, the Scottish Bonnet pepper, as well as the jalapeno.

Here's how you can use chili pepper in one of your next meals

Chili peppers can give any ordinary recipe an interesting flavor. So, the next time you're sauteing vegetables while stirring them, try adding a little chili pepper to reap its health benefits and spice up the flavor a bit. Here are other options to improve recipes: add ground or chopped chili peppers to plain or even better soy yogurt as a salad dressing, add them to salsa for a particularly hot taste, make a puree of a small amount of chili peppers with the addition of tomatoes or olives, so your recipes will get a surprising twist.
Just be very careful when handling fresh chili peppers: direct contact with skin, lips or eyes can 'burn' you to tears! When using them for cooking, put on cooking gloves instead of bare hands.
Consumption of chili peppers in moderation is considered safe; however, if you are allergic to peppers or nightshade vegetables, it is best to stay away from this spice. Another important thing to keep in mind is to buy organic hot peppers instead of conventionally grown ones. Namely, according to the Environmental Working Group's report written for 2020, non-organic hot peppers - due to the use of pesticides - are among the most toxic products on the market.

At the end of the notes: Please understand that we are not saying that "if you eat chili peppers, you won't get cancer." But, by living a better anti-cancer lifestyle - where you eat a lot of anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic foods (as long as you're not allergic to them), you can improve your quality of life in the long term.

Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31545523/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567576913002130
https://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/66/6/3222
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10870746/