Hot Pepper Against Cancer: The Miracle Of Capsaicin

By combining it with caffeine, we can increase the anticancer effects of capsaicin tenfold. If we can’t stand its pungent side, we can ingest it in capsule form.

Laboratories have long researched substances to fight cancer. The effectiveness of certain natural treatments is empirically known among many peoples. However, no substance has so far been shown to be effective from a medical and scientific point of view.

Certain substances and certain plants, such as pepper and soursop, are nevertheless effective in slowing down and sometimes even in treating this disease.

Various studies have demonstrated the anti-cancer power of a substance present in chilli. These studies were carried out on cell cultures of lung and pancreatic cancer. They even demonstrated that a certain dose of this substance causes the death of cancer cells, without affecting healthy cells!

The substance we will be talking about today is found in peppers which have a particularly strong taste. Their anti-carcinogenic power comes from  capsaicin. It is a substance that causes cancer cells to “suicide”. Its action can not only slow down the development of the disease, but also eradicate it.

What is capsaicin and how does it work?

We will therefore explain below how we can use foods containing capsaicin. We will also indicate the quantities in which we must include them in our diet to benefit from their preventive and even curative action against cancer.

The action of capsaicin against cancer

Capsaicin is part of a family of molecules called vanilloid. These molecules cause the death of cancer cells.

They achieve this by literally sticking to the proteins of the mitochondria, organelles essential to cells, thus causing the death of the latter. Vanilloid also kill cancer cells without harming healthy cells surrounding the tumor!

What distinguishes the mitochondria of cancer cells from those of healthy cells is that the former behave quite differently in biochemistry. This is one of the fundamental reasons for the selective action of capsaicin. This vulnerability to capsaicin is unique to cancer cells.

The consumption of this substance  is therefore particularly recommended to strengthen our system in the face of cancer. 

As we have said before, it is present in high doses in various kinds of hot peppers. Vanilloid (including capsaicin) being present in many foods, we therefore assume that pharmaceutical research will provide a drug in the near future and at low cost.

The Cancer Research UK currently recommends reducing the risk of cancer by adopting a healthy, balanced diet. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

Formulas that contain capsaicin are available today for topical treatments for myogelosis and psoriasis. This therefore suggests the possibility of using it also for the treatment of skin cancer.

How to use chili to prevent cancer

Capsaicin is what gives chili peppers its strong taste. It pushes prostate tumor cells to self-destruct. The University of California (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) recently conducted a study on capsaicin.

She demonstrated that this component, present at high doses in chilli, produces the activation of programmed cell death, or cell suicide (also called apoptosis) in 80% of these prostate cancer tumor cells. It thus reduces the size of tumors to a fifth of the size of untreated tumors!

According to these studies,  a 90 kg person should consume around 400 milligrams of capsaicin 3 times per week to achieve the desired anti-cancer effect. This corresponds to the consumption of three to eight fresh West Indian chili peppers. Be careful though.

They are indeed the peppers with the highest capsaicin content. Their strength is over 300,000 units on the Scoville scale. In other words, they are extremely strong. Your palate might not take it. To give you an idea, other varieties, like jalapeño pepper, contain 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville units.

Let’s take a closer look at the mechanism by which chili peppers work to inhibit or eliminate cancer:

Apoptosis or cell death is a normal phenomenon that occurs in the tissues and organs of our body. It is thanks to it that there is a balance between new cells and older or deteriorated cells.

Cancer cells nevertheless become immortal. They are indeed prepared by their genetic conditions to avoid the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis.

The researchers observed that capsaicin inhibits the activity of a molecular mechanism that is altered in cancer cells, NF-Kappa Beta. The latter plays, under normal conditions, a role in apoptosis or cell death of many types of cells.

The dysfunction of the NF-KB system in cancer cells is one of the reasons for their immortality.

The hot component of chili pepper also reduces the production of a protein that prostate tumors often produce in large amounts and the percentage of which may indicate the presence of this type of tumor in men. This protein is known as prostate specific antigen (PSA).

A diet to fight cancer

We have just presented the wonderful properties of foods containing capsaicin. It is therefore advisable to incorporate in our diet the greatest possible amount of foods that contain it to prevent cancer.

These foods are, among others, peppers and ginger. Keep in mind that the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it contains. Let’s not forget that these foods retain all of their properties when raw. It is therefore advisable to consume them as well.

• Hot peppers.  It is the best known and most concentrated source of capsaicin. Certain varieties, such as jalapeños or habaneros, are indeed at the top of the Scoville scale.
• The tabasco.  This sauce is made with hot peppers of the tabasco variety, from the Mexican state of the same name, to which we add vinegar and salt. A few drops of this sauce in your dish will be felt happily on your tongue.
• Cumin.  Much weaker than the previous ones, it contains capsaicin. It can spice up your legumes well. Cumin is the main ingredient in various sauces such as mojo canario.

• The curry.  One of its main ingredients is turmeric, which gives it its yellow color. It contains small amounts of capsaicin.

Capsaicin and caffeine also act synergistically. In other words, the combination of these two substances is even more effective in preventing and treating cancer. To burn fat too.

If the thought of soaking jalapeño peppers in your breakfast coffee doesn’t appeal to you, you can always take capsaicin and caffeine capsules to spare your tongue. However, you will not escape hot flashes!