- Is there any connection between chili pepper consumption and gastric cancer?
• Answer: There was one case-control study in Mexico from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
The conclusion was that capsaicin, the hot-tasting component of chili peppers, may be carcinogenic.
The study included 220 incident cases and 752 controls randomly selected from the general population in Mexico City during 1989-1990.
Chili pepper consumers were at high risk for gastric cancer compared with non consumers.
However, when consumption was measured as frequency per day, a significant trend among consumers was not observed.
Chili pepper consumption may be a strong risk factor for gastric cancer, but further studies are needed to test this hypothesis.
Source: Am J Epidemiol. 1994 Feb 1;139(3):263-71.
Other information on gastric cancer: here