April 9, 2019 (Medical News Today)
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the U.S. In 2019, it is estimated that over 200,000 people will develop lung cancer while over 100,000 people will die from the condition.
Cancer spreading to other organs is what causes most of these deaths to occur. Lung cancer can spread to other organs such as the brain, liver, or bone, making the cancer a lot harder to treat.
Recently, researchers have studied a nutritional compound found in chili peppers that could potentially stop the cancer from spreading. This chemical compound is called capsaicin.
A study was conducted on a group of mice with lung cancer. The group was split up into two groups where one was fed a diet full of capsaicin, while the other group had no capsaicin. Researchers found that the group of mice who consumed the capsaicin daily showed a much smaller amount of metastatic cancer cells in their lungs. Compared to the other group who did not have any capsaicin, their condition showed no signs of improvement.