According to a new study conducted by Canadian researchers, capsaicin, a chemical compound present in peppers, has many properties to treat various ailments.
It burns and gives hot flashes, but according to the researchers, it is “pleasantly painful”. A new study regarding hot pepper has just been published, published by scientists from the University of Montreal. It has many therapeutic virtues, thanks to its active component: capsaicin. “Contained in the inner lining of peppers, capsaicin is the chemical compound that produces the sensation burning in the mouth during ingestion”, detail the researchers.
“Fighting Fire with Fire”
According to their research, capsaicin, applied as a topical cream, can help calm arthritis pain, but also relieve the burning caused by postherpetic neuralgia, the most common complication. of the zone. “It may seem paradoxical indeed. In a way, we fight fire with fire”, explains Réjean Couture, professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Montreal and specialist in pain receptors. Indeed, during application, burning, inflammation and redness may be felt.
On the other hand, capsaicin is also effective in fighting antibiotic resistant bacteria. “If the molecule is not potent enough to replace existing antibiotics, its ability to reduce the quantity of the latter during the treatment of bacterial infections would contribute to reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance”, specifies the study. In other words, the hot pepper makes it possible to reduce the body’s resistance to antibiotics.
Antioxidant and anticarcinogenic properties
Valérie Marcil, professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of Montreal, says that the molecule acts directly on cells:
“First, capsaicin might influence the life cycle of cancer cells by promoting apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Often, this mechanism no longer works normally in cancer cells. They survive and multiply, so that they should have been destroyed by apoptosis. But capsaicin would have the virtue of participating in the destruction of some of them”.
In addition, capsaicin “would have antiobesogenic properties, such as increasing energy expenditure and the feeling of satiety”.
Of course, the researchers warn that the benefits of hot pepper are not a substitute for treatment or medical follow-up: “It’s like that for all the nutrients, she adds. On a daily basis, we do not eat nutrients , but foods. Moreover, foods are not medicines. Their power must be put into perspective, since their real effects are often the result of a combination of factors”.
Further, more in-depth research needs to be conducted to better understand capsaicin’s mechanism of action.