Red chilli peppers contain cancer-busting chemicals: study

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Thursday, April 06, 2006

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C06%

5Cstory_6-4-2006_pg12_12

Red chilli peppers contain cancer-busting chemicals: study

ISLAMABAD: Researchers are rolling out the spice rack against

cancer with studies showing that ginger and the hot element in red

chili peppers could kill tumour cells.

The ginger and chilli-pepper studies were presented during the

annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in

Washington. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh experimented

on mice to show that capsaicin, the active `hot' ingredient in the

pepper, killed pancreatic cancer cells through the body's normal

process for clearing defective cells.

" We discovered that capsaicin fed orally to mice with human

pancreatic tumours was an extremely effective inhibitor of the

cancer process, inducing apoptosis (natural cell death) in cancer

cells, " said an assistant professor of pharmacology at Pitt and lead

author of the study Sanjay Srivastava.

Tumours treated with capsaicin were half the size of tumours found

in mice that were treated with saline solution by the end of the

study. Scientists at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer

Centre tested powdered ginger against ovarian-cancer-cell cultures

in a lab and planned to work with mouse in the next phase.

The research found that ginger caused cell death in all the ovarian-

cancer cell lines tested. Moreover, the spice caused cancer cells to

be destroyed both through the normal cell-death process and through

another mechanism that involves the cells digesting themselves.

The second mechanism is important, because it might offer a way

around the difficult tendency of ovarian cancer cells to become

resistant to conventional chemotherapy, said an assistant professor

of obstetrics and gynaecology at the UM Medical School and author of

the study Dr Liu.

Ginger is known to be effective at controlling inflammation, which

contributes to the development of ovarian cancer cells. By halting

the inflammatory reaction, the researchers suggest, ginger also

stops cancer cells from growing.

" We found that ginger induced cell death at a similar or better rate

than platinum-based chemotherapy drugs used to treat ovarian

cancer, " said an oncology fellow and co-author of the study Dr

Rhode.

Another review of studies evaluating the use of soy supplements

against breast cancer finds that there is only a slight benefit. A

study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute says

that while soy intake may be associated with a small reduction in

the risk of breast cancer, the evidence is too weak to recommend

widespread use of the supplements.

The soy connection has been widely debated and tested for nearly

three decades since scientists first noted that Asian women have

much lower breast-cancer rates than women in Western nations. The

scientists have also observed an increase in breast-cancer rates

among the Asian women who moved to the United States.

Scientists at s Hopkins University and town University

pooled the results of 18 studies published between 1978 and 2004

that looked at the association between soy intake and breast-cancer

risk.

The researchers found an overall relative reduction in breast-cancer

risk for soy-eaters — a modest 14 percent for Caucasian women — but

the effect was not statistically significant for Asian women.

" We found that soy-food intake was associated with a reduced breast-

cancer risk, but the data is not adequate to provide a clear answer

to recommend soy foods to prevent breast cancer, " said a professor

of oncology at town's Lombardi Cancer Centre Leena Hilakivi-

e.

The researchers warned women against taking high-dose soy

supplements. APP

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