Spicy food could combat cancer

guido · Site Admin Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 381 Location: Italy

Vegetables such as broccoli and spices like red chilli pepper could be used to combat cancer, researchers have said.

Scientists believe the foods may have a cancer-fighting benefit by slowing or preventing the growth of cancerous tumour cells.

Two studies, conducted at the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine in the US, looked at the effects of chilli pepper and vegetables like broccoli and cabbage on cancer cells.

The first study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, looked at the potential of capsaicin - the hot ingredient in red chilli pepper - to fight pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer, which is diagnosed in around 7,000 people a year in the UK, is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer with a low survival rate.

The researchers treated human pancreatic cells with capsaicin in the lab.

They found that it affected the activity in the cells which induced programmed cell death - apoptosis - in the cancerous cells without affecting normal pancreatic cells.

Lead researcher Dr Sanjay Srivastava said: "Our results demonstrate that capsaicin is a potent anti-cancer agent, induces apoptosis in cancer cells and produces no significant damage to normal pancreatic cells, indicating its potential use as a novel chemotherapeutic agent for pancreatic cancer."

A second study looked at benefits of phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) - a constituent of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage - in ovarian cancer.

The scientists said this exposure led to significant inhibition of the protein expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which plays a crucial role in the growth of ovarian cancer cells.
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In vino veritas!