'Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture. It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models.'

The pepper component caused human prostate cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis, according to a team of researchers from the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and colleagues from UCLA.

More men in the United States develop prostate cancer than any other type of malignancy. Every year, more than 232,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in the US, and more than 680,000 develop the disease worldwide. Approximately 30,000 men die from prostate cancer in the US each year, which is about 13 percent of all new cases. Worldwide, there are 221,000 deaths -- approximately 31 percent -- among men with prostate cancer.

'Profound Anti-Proliferative Effect'

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.

"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said S