Friday, May 26, 2006
Cayenne Pepper Kills Prostate Cancer Cells?
Of Mice and Men...
Have you heard of the recent study that linked Cayenne pepper with the death of prostate cancer cells? It sure got my attention, as a young late-50ish male!
U.S. and Japanese researchers planted human prostate cancer cells into mice and let them grow. After being given capsaicin, the tumors in the mice started self-destructing and 80% of them were down to 1/5th the original size.
Capsaicin is the chemical in chile peppers that gives "heat" to food and a burning sensation in the mouth. Yum! Great on pizza, Mexican food and almost everything else. I've noticed that since I began adding it in increasingly larger amounts, it takes a lot more to get the burning effect.
Another thing I was NOT aware of is a "Capsaicin high" when consuming large amounts of it at once. The theory goes like this:
Have you heard of the recent study that linked Cayenne pepper with the death of prostate cancer cells? It sure got my attention, as a young late-50ish male!
U.S. and Japanese researchers planted human prostate cancer cells into mice and let them grow. After being given capsaicin, the tumors in the mice started self-destructing and 80% of them were down to 1/5th the original size.
Capsaicin is the chemical in chile peppers that gives "heat" to food and a burning sensation in the mouth. Yum! Great on pizza, Mexican food and almost everything else. I've noticed that since I began adding it in increasingly larger amounts, it takes a lot more to get the burning effect.
Another thing I was NOT aware of is a "Capsaicin high" when consuming large amounts of it at once. The theory goes like this:
- large amounts of Capsaicin produce burning and pain
- the pain causes the body to release endorphins
- the endorphins cause a sense of euphoria
