Thursday, March 16, 2006
The Ring of Fire
This one is for those of us out there positively addicted to hot chile peppers. Yes, I am happiest when my mouth has a pulse. I cook regularly with a large variety of hot chiles, and other times resort to sauce or just pour crushed red pepper on my food.
I don't put a lot of stock in "studies" these days, and really don't need any other reasons to endure the subsequent "ring of fire," but I nevertheless enjoyed seeing this news today.
What a wonderful world we live in!
I don't put a lot of stock in "studies" these days, and really don't need any other reasons to endure the subsequent "ring of fire," but I nevertheless enjoyed seeing this news today.
Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.
Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.
Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.
"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine.
"It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."
While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human tumors than it is in human beings, the findings suggest a possible future treatment. They also may offer a good excuse for men who like spicy food to eat more of it.
What a wonderful world we live in!
1 Comments:
By 
Chris, at
Fri Mar 17, 04:09:00 PM:
My mother has neuropathy in her feet, and she puts capsaicin (among other things) on them to relieve the symptoms. Whodathunkit?
