Capsaicin, a secondary plant metabolite produced by chili peppers, has a number of documented medical uses. Recently, this compound has also been shown to kill cancer cells by targeting the mitochondria, the power house of the cell.
The compound has been tested in the laboratory on H460 human lung cancer cells, approved by the National Cancer Institute as a member of its 60 cell panel which is the ‘gold standard’ for testing new anti-cancer drugs, and produced startling results. Dr Bates’ research team also tested similar compounds on pancreatic cancer, producing similar cell death to that observed with the lung cancer …read more