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Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause
prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, US and Japanese researchers
say.
The researchers say capsaicin led 80 per cent of human prostate cancer
cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis.
Prostate cancer tumours in mice fed capsaicin
were about one-fifth the size of tumours in untreated mice, they report
in the journal Cancer Research.
"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate
cancer cells in culture," Dr Soren Lehmann, of the Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine,
said.
"It also dramatically slowed the development of
prostate tumours formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse
models."
While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human
tumours 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.
Dr Lehmann estimated that the mice ate the human equivalent of 400
milligrams of capsaicin three times a week.
That is about the amount found in three to eight
fresh habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are.Worldwide, 221,000 men die every year from prostate cancer.
- Reuters
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