Chillies and Cancer - Up To Date Information Regarding Anti-Cancer Properties Of Chillies

Our goal on this page is to provide you with information on how chillies and their extracted compounds are being investigated in cancer research and the possible implications of that research.

As we have said in a number of the chillies & your health pages, chillies are good sources of vitamins E and B group, among others. Both these vitamins are well known for their ability to aid cancer prevention. Modern medical studies have also shown that some of the capsaicin compounds perform functions that may lead to them being used in cancer treatments.

The studies being conducted using chillies and their compounds can be broken down into the below, broad categories.

Pain Management

The National Cancer Institute in America National Cancer Institute is currently funding research into capsaicin as a pain management tool

In their words; "Pain can be one of the most debilitating side effects of cancer, and thus, pain control remains one of the largest quality of life issues facing cancer patients. NCI recognizes the importance of supporting pain control research and its expanding efforts in this area include some unique research into the use of capsaicin, the "hot" ingredient in red peppers, for pain control and treatment. Capsaicin functions by exciting, and then at higher doses and over time, desensitizing a class of brain cells (C-fiber sensory neurons) which controls chronic pain, inflammation, and regulation of body temperature.

NCI researchers have found that capsaicin and related compounds, referred to collectively as vanilloids, work by binding to specific receptors present on these neurons. Recently, scientists discovered that there are actually two types of vanilloid receptors which differ in structure and activity. Vanilloids in use appear to bind to a receptor which both excites, or alerts, the neurons to pain and then over time desensitizes, or dulls, the pain response decreasing the amount of pain felt -- the primary objective. However, the newly discovered receptor appears to desensitize the neurons to pain without first alerting the cells to pain. The discovery of this second vanilloid receptor underscores the complexity of mechanisms involved in vanilloid pain control and provides us with an inroad for designing a vanilloid-like drug which will only attach to the neuron desensitizing receptor, therefore, relieving pain associated with cancer and other diseases."

This effect works on the same principles we discuss on our arthritis page with regard to blocking pain. The difference is that the study is focussed on affecting sensors in the brain rather than at the source of the pain.

Cancer Help UK also discuss capsaicin creams as a viable pain management tool to relieve pain caused by the side effects of some chemotherapy drugs.

Cancer Treatment

A number of modern medical studies (e.g. Carcinogenesis journal ) have shown that capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin have chemopreventative potential. In simple terms these two capsaicin compounds inhibit cytochrome P-450 from combining with DNA molecules and mutating them (which can lead to the beginning of tumours and growth of existing tumours).

The Roswell Park Cancer Institute is conducting extensive research into using capsaicin and other vanilloids as potential cancer treaments.

In their own words;

"keeping with an anticancer role, animal studies have indicated that oral capsaicin can protect against carcinogen-induced cancers, including those of the lung, liver, and intestine, and epidemiological data pointing to a possible protective effect in urological cancers have been reported. That these apparent anticancer effects of vanilloids may be exploited clinically is supported by the current characterization and acceptance of vanilloids in conventional medicine, together with the long-standing and widespread use of chili as a food additive and the use of extracts of chili and Euphorbia in alternative medicine.

Although several mechanisms for vanilloid receptor-independent action of capsaicin and resiniferatoxin have been proposed, the relative importance of these mechanisms in various cell types remains to be determined. Thus, rational design of vanilloid-based cancer treatments will require detailed analysis of their modes of action in vitro and in vivo. Based on data from animal and epidemiological studies, we are examining the effects of vanilloids on intestinal epithelial and prostate cancer cells. It is hoped that characterization of their actions in these models will allow optimization of vanilloids for cancer therapy/prevention and identification of molecular markers of drug action for use in in vivo/clinical studies."

This is one of the most promising studies we have found to date !

Similar properties have been observed in other studies looking at cancers induced by carcinogens originating from nicotine (e.g. American National Library Of Medicine ) and indicates that capsaicin may play a strong role as a dietary protectant against the formation of a number of cancers associated with tobacco smoke.

As with everything else we discuss under this Chillies & Your Health section, please consult with your medical advisor before using any sort of new treatment.