Chile Peppers & your health

"Are hot peppers bad for you ?"

Probably not, according to recent studies. A common concern is that hot peppers or other spicy foods cause ulcers, but there's no evidence that they do. Studies of areas where hot peppers are used extensively in cooking, such as Brazil and Thailand, have found no higher incidence of stomach ulcers among their populations. And in a study conducted at a Veterans Administration hospital, researchers ground up about an ounce of jalapeno pepper and injected it directly into the stomachs of volunteers. Follow-up observation showed no damage to their stomach linings. Neither do hot peppers aggravate or cause haemorrhoids as has often been claimed, since capsaicinoids, the 'hot' substance, are broken down before they reach the lower intestine.

"Several medical studies have concluded that hot peppers and
other spicy foods do not cause ulcers.
Nor do hot peppers cause haemorrhoids, as has often been claimed"...

Substance P

In the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of Chile Pepper magazine, Dave Hirschopf, maker of Dave's Insanity sauces, wrote an interesting article on 'Substance P'. This is the chemical that may lead to the desensitisation of your reaction to hot peppers, i.e. the more you eat hot peppers, the less the effect they have on you. Substance P is a neurotransmitter, discovered in 1931 by Swedish scientists, that is thought to transmit pain signals, and well as other functions. It is also a neurokenin, known as NK1. As well as being found in nerve cells, substance P can be found in the brain, spinal cord and intestines.

The cause and effect sequence is thought to be as follows: You eat a hot chile pepper, the capsaicin in the pepper causes the nerve cells in the spinal cord to release substance P, this informs the brain that you are in pain. As you eat more peppers, your nerve cells become hypersensitive to substance P and no longer react in the normal way, i.e. your brain no longer gets the pain signals.

David Julius and Michael Caterina, of the University of California in San Francisco, have found the protein ion receptor for capsaicin, the pungent ingredient in hot chile peppers that causes painful heat sensation.

The protein, commonly called TRVP1 [Transient Receptor Potential - formally known as vanilloid receptor subtype 1 (VR1)]¹ these days, is activated by binding to capsaicin. High, painful temperatures work in a similar way and cause the same sensation.

"In the same way that the study of morphine led to the discovery of nerve pathways in the brain that suppress pain, we believe that our having found the target of capsaicin activity will illuminate fundamental mechanisms of pain production".

Julius says that the VR1 channel opens up when it is activated by hot peppers and allows an influx of calcium and sodium ions to react to sensory nerve cells called nociceptors. They send impulses about tissue damage to the pain processing centres in the spinal cord and brain which cause the hot sensation in the mouth. Hot temperatures that produce pain in humans produce the same response.

Do others feel the heat?

It is worth noting that birds cannot taste the hotness in peppers and the fruit of the bird peppers are so small that they are often eaten whole. The birds gizzard breaks up the pods and the seeds pass through undigested and surrounded by a nice nitrogenous fertiliser. Mammals, on the other hand, are discouraged by the extreme hotness of the bird peppers, unless of course, they are Chile Heads !

The up-side of chile peppers

Chile peppers are all-season foods: they warm you up in winter and cool you down in the summer. This correlates to the feeling of warmth when eating chiles. Hot foods do increase perspiration, which may be the underlying reason they are enjoyed in hot climates. So a sweat and possibly a brief increase in your metabolic rate won't influence weight loss either. The best contribution to weight loss is the flavours chiles can add to foods when the fat has been removed. Studies done in populations that use hot peppers consistently found that these people show no higher incidence of any gastrointestinal diseases. In fact, there are some areas where they exhibit some beneficial effects. The Capsaicin has been identified as an anticoagulant and could possibly aid in preventing a heart attack or stroke. Since 1982, there have been more than 2,000 scientific studies published describing the medicinal benefits of chiles. These include treatments for asthma, arthritis, blood clots, cluster headaches, shingles and severe burns.

It is believed that relief of PMS can come from the Endorphin release after eating chiles, although there is certainly the possibility of other factors coming into play. Aside from the documented physiological/psychological effects of endorphins, chiles are high in compounds known as Bioflavonoids.

These compounds are powerful anti-inflammatories. Bioflavonoids are also noted to help blood vessel walls strengthen and lessen bleeding. This could be another source of the relief. Chiles are also cited by nearly every homeopathic and home remedy book to be able to reduce inflammations. Chiles are believed by many peoples to achieve this effect through a normalising of blood pressures and blood flows in the body. Chiles are also noted to be relatively high in magnesium. Some time ago, bananas were touted as the ultimate cure for PMS when it was found that potassium helped to relieve the symptoms associated with PMS. Magnesium comes from the same family on the periodic table and could potentially mimic this effect.

Extracts from some articles

http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/pdf/JalapenoCancerResearch-9817.pdf

This research group found out that capsaicin in high dosage is effective in killing prostate cancer cells....

http://www.geocities.com/nutriflip/Naturopathy/Capsicum.html

It has proved efficacious in dilating blood vessels and thus relieving chronic congestion of people addicted to drink. It is sometimes used as a tonic and is said to be unequalled in warding off disease (probably due to the high vitamin C content)...Used externally, it is a strong rubefacient stimulating the circulation, aiding the removal of waste products and increasing the flow of nutrients to the tissues...Applied to the skin it desensitizes nerve endings and so has been used as a local anaesthetic. The seed contains capsicidins. These are thought to have antibiotic properties...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2281222.stm

Chilli peppers could help scientists to develop an effective treatment for patients with arthritis. Researchers in the United States have found a link between the pain associated with eating the peppers and the pain associated with arthritis...

http://www.pathmed.com/p/136,438.html

Topical capsaicin, or red pepper extract, which is FDA approved, can be enormously helpful in treating diabetic neuropathy by releasing substance P (an amino acid peptide associated with pain)...

http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/resources/article.cfm?c=3&s=8&ss=23&id=8830&month=09&year=2002

Capsaicin can prevent cancer development in animal models and cause cancer cell death in cultured tumour cells...

http://www.viable-herbal.com/herbdesc/1capsicu.htm

Researchers in Thailand first noticed that people who consume large amounts of red chili peppers experienced a lower incidence of thrombo-embolism, or potentially dangerous blood clots...found that people who eat a diet high in red peppers experience a much lower incidence of blood clotting diseases. Scientists have now concluded that capsicum does indeed possess fibrinolytic activity, meaning that it is able to break down blood clots...also discovered that a topically applied cream containing capsicum could help control some types of chronic skin pains...

http://www.anagen.net/caps3.htm

An extract of chilli has been used for many years in folk medicine as a treatment for localised skin inflammation, sprains and painful joints. Our laboratory data have shown that the biological activity of chilli is attributable to its pungent principle, capsaicin, which has anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-oxidant properties....

http://www.ucsf.edu/pressrel/1998/03/0302caps.html

A UC San Francisco study has found that capsaicin, a derivative of hot chili peppers, may significantly reduce chronic, debilitating nerve pain associated with a range of diseases when used in high doses. The study found that seven out of ten patients who suffered from debilitating foot or chest wall pain associated with HIV, diabetes or shingles improved by at least 50 percent after being treated by creams with capsaicin concentrates of five percent to ten percent. All ten participants reported some pain relief.....

http://heelspurs.com/capsaicin.html

Capsaicin, the substance that makes chile peppers so hot, has been found to reduce pain in arthritis patients when topically applied as a cream repeatedly over several weeks. Capsaicin cream, which comes in two strengths, .025 % and .075%, is also used to treat the neuropathic pain of postherpetic neuralgia. It has been used to treat nerve pain inside the mouth, for patients with painful sores from cancer therapy. A commercial preparation of capsaicin is called "Zostrix"....

http://www.healthcentral.com/peoplespharmacy/408/31927.html

Dermatologists have reported that applying capsaicin to the skin may reduce the redness and itch of psoriasis. Check with your doctor before using this approach...

http://www.news-medical.net/?keyword=Capsaicin

Two new studies suggest that vegetables such as broccoli and spices like red chili pepper, may provide a cancer-fighting benefit by slowing or preventing the growth of cancerous tumour cells....

http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/hot_stuff.html

A cream containing capsaicin, rubbed on the skin, penetrates to arthritic joints, where it stops the destruction of cartilage, relieves pain, and increases flexibility...discovered that ulcer-free patients ate 2.6 times more chile than those with ulcers...Capsaicin seems to function in these roles as a natural calcium blocker, analogous to some prescription heart drugs...In a study of 200 patients with psoriasis, application of a 0.025-percent capsaicin cream significantly reduced itching, scaling, thickness, and redness compared with patients who used a plain cream..

http://www.bagelhole.org/drafts/Capsicain.html

A tea made of cayenne peppers works well to clear stuffy noses...Capsaicin and oleoresin capsicum as also used as a rubifacient. Which means they cause an increased circulation to localized sites. Thus their use in arthritis creams. They are also finding use to increase fibrolytic activity (blood clotting)...Capsaicin or oleoresin capsicum is receiving a lot of attention for use as an anaesthetic...patients who often develop painful ulcers (sores) in the mouth, a capsaicin containing candy seemed to provide significant relief from pain.

¹ courtesy of Michael Craig at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics - University of Oxford