14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers writing in a recent issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation argue that, according to evidence at hand, chili peppers could help reduce a person's risk of developing gut tumors.
In a press release concerning this find, researchers with the University of California, San Diego in the US explain that chili peppers owe their ability to reduce gut tumors risk to a compound dubbed capsaicin.
This compound is the active ingredient in chili peppers. As people who like spicy foods probably know too well, it is an irritant, meaning that it causes a sensation of burning in the tissues it comes into contact with.
As detailed in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, evidence suggests that, despite being an irritant, capsaicin can prove beneficial by triggering a reaction that eventually cuts gut tumors risk by preventing abnormal cell growth.
In their paper, the University of California, San Diego researchers behind this investigation explain that capsaicin works by activating a receptor found in cells lining the human intestines. This receptor is dubbed TRPV1.
Once activated by capsaicin, TRPV1 acts on another receptor, i.e. EGFR. Specifically, it puts its working agenda on hold. Since EGFR serves to encourage new cells formation in the guts, this helps reduce the risk for abnormal cell growth.
“A basic level of EGFR activity is required to maintain the normal cell turnover in the gut. However, if EGFR signaling is left unrestrained, the risk of sporadic tumor development increases,” study lead author Petrus de Jong, MD, explained in a statement.
“These results showed us that epithelial TRPV1 normally works as a tumor suppressor in the intestines,” the researcher went on to comment on the outcome of this investigation into how capsaicin influences activity patterns in the human gut.
Interestingly enough, experiments carried out on laboratory mice have shown that, in the case of rodents genetically engineered to be TRPV1 deficient, abnormal tissue growths in the intestines and consequently tumors are more common.
Should this also be true in the case of humans, it might be that activating TRPV1 with the help of capsaicin contained in chili peppers could help reduce gut tumors risk. Still, the University of California, San Diego scientists point out that further studies into this issue are needed.
“Our data suggest that individuals at high risk of developing recurrent intestinal tumors may benefit from chronic TRPV1 activation. We have provided proof-of-principle,” said specialist Eyal Raz. “A direct association between TRPV1 function and human colorectal cancer should be addressed in future clinical studies,” added Petrus de Jong.