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Cayenne/Capsicum (Capsicum frutescens)

Specific Recommendations:

• Capsaicin supplements at Amazon.com

News & Research:

• Hot pepper compound could help hearts - Science Daily, 3/27/12 - "The team found, for instance, that capsaicin and a close chemical relative boost heart health in two ways. They lower cholesterol levels by reducing accumulation of cholesterol in the body and increasing its breakdown and excretion in the feces. They also block action of a gene that makes arteries contract, restricting the flow of blood to the heart and other organs. The blocking action allows more blood to flow through blood vessels"
• Chili peppers may come with blood pressure benefits - Science Daily, 8/3/10 - "We found that long-term dietary consumption of capsaicin, one of the most abundant components in chili peppers, could reduce blood pressure in genetically hypertensive rats"
• New evidence that chili pepper ingredient fights fat - Science Daily, 6/2/10 - "The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats. "These changes provide valuable new molecular insights into the mechanism of the antiobesity effects of capsaicin,""
• Chilli extract may prevent obesity complications: Study - Nutra USA, 10/5/09
• 8 natural pain relievers - MSNBC, 9/14/08 - "Capsaicin: For arthritis, shingles, or neuropathy ... InflaThera or Zyflamend: For arthritis ... Aquamin: For osteoarthritis ... SAM-e (S adenosylmethionine): For osteoarthritis ... Fish oil: For joint pain from arthritis or autoimmune disorders ... Methylsulfonyl-methane (MSM): For osteoarthritis"
• Fiery Pepper Fatal for Fat Cells? - WebMD, 3/6/07
• Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat? - Science Daily, 3/5/07
• 3 Herbal Medicines May Ease Back Pain - WebMD, 4/18/06 - "A 60-milligram daily dose of devil's claw also appeared to cut back pain as much as a 12.5-milligram daily dose of Vioxx, a painkiller no longer on the market due to a rise in the risk of cardiovascular events -- such as heart attack and stroke -- in some patients"
• Pepper Component Hot Enough To Trigger Suicide In Prostate Cancer Cells - Science Daily, 3/19/06 - "Capsaicin induced approximately 80 percent of prostate cancer cells growing in mice to follow the molecular pathways leading to apoptosis. Prostate cancer tumors treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in non-treated mice"
• Spicy Spin on Treating Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 3/15/06 - "Capsaicin prompted cancer cells to die and curbed tumor growth ... Capsaicin was also linked to lower levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA)"
• Pepper extract could stop prostate cancer growth - Nutra USA, 3/15/06 - "capsaicin has a profound inhibiting effect on the growth of prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo , inducing apoptosis [programmed cell death] of prostate cancer cell lines"
• Fiery Hot Therapy Improves Asthma - WebMD, 5/25/04
• Topical Capsaicin Confers Moderate to Poor Pain Reduction for Neuropathic and Musculoskeletal Disorders - Doctor's Guide, 3/23/04
• Capsaicin Patch Eases Postherpetic Neuralgia Pain - Medscape, 4/3/03
• Women Rate Capsaicin Pain Stimulus as More Intense than Men - Doctor's Guide, 8/22/02
• Topical Capsaicin 0.075 Percent Best Choice For Double Blinded Studies - Doctor's Guide, 8/21/02
• Cayenne Is A Hot Therapeutic Ticket - Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals, 7/02

Abstracts:

• Dietary Capsaicin Ameliorates Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy and Fibrosis Through the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 1 - Am J Hypertens. 2014 May 23 - "Dietary capsaicin plays a protective role in hypertension, atherosclerosis, obesity, and hyperlipidemia through activating the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1), a nonselective cation channel ... Our results suggest that dietary capsaicin protects against cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in pressure overload mice through TRPV1" - See capsaicin supplements at Amazon.com.
• Antitumor Activity of Capsaicin on Human Colon Cancer Cells in Vitro and Colo 205 Tumor Xenografts in Vivo - J Agric Food Chem. 2010 Nov 17 - "capsaicin induced cytotoxic effects in a time- and dose-dependent manner and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca(2+) but decreased the level of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ(m)) in colo 205 cells. Data from Western blotting analysis indicated that the levels of Fas, cytochrome c, and caspases were increased, leading to cell apoptosis. Capsaicin decreased the levels of anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and increased the levels of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bax. Capsaicin-induced apoptosis in colo 205 cells was also done through the activations of caspase-8, -9 and -3. In vivo studies in immunodeficient nu/nu mice bearing colo 205 tumor xenografts showed that capsaicin effectively inhibited tumor growth. The potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities of capsaicin suggest that capsaicin might be developed for the treatment of human colon cancer"