Even if you don’t like them, you must have heard about chili peppers. They are irritants to animals and some humans too because they give a burning sensation with any animal living tissue it comes in contact with. Capsaicin is one of the compounds found in chili peppers and it probably occurs as a deterrent against some fungi and herbivores. In its pure form, capsaicin is colorless, odorless, hydrophobic, crystalline to waxy compound. The chemical compound capsaicin has been believed to be capable of treating prostate cancer with its unique properties.

In some medical research tests that were carried out, capsaicin was able to induce about 80 percent of prostrate cancer cells that were growing in mice in order to follow the molecular pathways that led to apoptosis. In mice that were treated with capsaicin, prostrate cancer tumors were only about one-fifth of the size of the tumors of the mice that were not treated. This suggested the possibility of using the chemical compound in treating prostrate cancer.

The motion to use capsaicin for prostrate cancer treatment in men was moved when it was discovered that it had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human cancer cells in culture. It was possible to demonstrate that the development of prostrate tumors that were formed by human cell lines that were grown in mouse models could be dramatically slowed down.