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'Hot' Substance in Chilli Peppers Key to Killing Pain

Diva55

Member
Messages
164
Location
UK
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8644788.stm

Published: 2010/04/27 02:59:58 GMT

Studying chilli peppers is helping scientists create a new type of painkiller which could stop pain at its source.

A team at the University of Texas says a substance similar to capsaicin, which makes chilli peppers hot, is found in the human body at sites of pain.

And blocking the production of this substance can stop chronic pain, the team found.
They report their findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Capsaicin is the primary ingredient in hot chilli peppers which causes a burning sensation.
It does this by binding to receptors present on the cells inside the body.

Similarly, when the body is injured, it releases capsaicin-like substances - fatty acids called oxidized linoleic acid metabolites or OLAMs - and these, via receptors, cause pain, the researchers have found.

Blocking pain
Dr Kenneth Hargreaves, senior researcher at the Dental School at the University of Texas, and his team next set out to see if they could block these newly discovered pain pathways.

Lab work on mice showed that by knocking out a gene for the receptors, there was no sensitivity to capsaicin.

Armed with this knowledge they set about making drugs to do the same.
Dr Hargreaves said: "This is a major breakthrough in understanding the mechanisms of pain and how to more effectively treat it.

"We have discovered a family of endogenous capsaicin-like molecules that are naturally released during injury, and no w we understand how to block these mechanisms with a new class of non-addictive therapies."

Ultimately, he hopes the drugs will be able to treat different types of chronic pain, including that associated with cancer and inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and fibromyalgia.
 

jace

Off the fence
Messages
856
Location
England
Chillies, garlic, ginger, tumeric - put their name plus 'health' into Google and you'll find that all herbs and spices have a medicinal action. More about chillies here. I make use of this to deal with pain and nausea. Tastes better that pills lol

So from curries (if your digestion is not to shot already) to gentle teas (slice of ginger, some teabag you like maybe some lemon, or mint?) , its a useful friend in need. And a whole lot cheaper.

It was garlic (huge fresh doses x 3 a day) that enabled me to give up the Gabapentin and Co-Drydamol.
 

Diva55

Member
Messages
164
Location
UK
I'm aware that all the herbs & spices you mentioned have many medicinal properties.

This article is not about the medicinal effects of chillis but the development of a drug.

As it states "substance similar to capsaicin, which makes chilli peppers hot, is found in the human body at sites of pain. And blocking the production of this substance can stop chronic pain, ".


Chillies, garlic, ginger, tumeric - put their name plus 'health' into Google and you'll find that all herbs and spices have a medicinal action. More about chillies here. I make use of this to deal with pain and nausea. Tastes better that pills lol

So from curries (if your digestion is not to shot already) to gentle teas (slice of ginger, some teabag you like maybe some lemon, or mint?) , its a useful friend in need. And a whole lot cheaper.

It was garlic (huge fresh doses x 3 a day) that enabled me to give up the Gabapentin and Co-Drydamol.
 

jace

Off the fence
Messages
856
Location
England
And you can make use of the benefits of capsaicin, helping with pain and inflammatin, by using something from the grocery store or garden today. I'm not saying the research is not useful, but these qualities have been known and used for centuries. Where is the dividing line between drugs and natural substances?

'Scuse me for being off topic. If I am.
 

oerganix

Senior Member
Messages
611
the article is implying that BLOCKING capsaicin will lead to less pain - not that adding/supplimenting it will

Yes, and it seems backwards. There are already topical creams with capsaicin, for pain, and they work. Sounds like a drug company wants to patent another natural substance and then charge a lot more for it. They do say "capsaicin-like", whatever that means.
 

jace

Off the fence
Messages
856
Location
England
"scuse me I may be a bit foolish sometimes :ashamed::innocent1::ashamed: and this is not the right place for my point.

Sweeping bow as I depart, backwards.
 

JPV

ɹǝqɯǝɯ ɹoıuǝs
Messages
858
the article is implying that BLOCKING capsaicin will lead to less pain - not that adding/supplimenting it will

Wrong...

From: http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?ChunkIID=21645
Here’s how it works: All hot peppers contain a substance called capsaicin. When applied to tissues, capsaicin causes release of a chemical called substance P. Substance P is ordinarily released when tissues are damaged; it is part of the system the body uses to detect injury. When hot peppers artificially release substance P, they trick the nervous system into thinking that an injury has occurred. The result: a sensation of burning pain.

When capsaicin is applied regularly to a part of the body, substance P becomes depleted in that location. This is why individuals who consume a lot of hot peppers gradually build up a tolerance.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
This article is so good it belongs in a psychiatric journal. [Sarcasm]

1. Substances that work like capsaicin in the body are associated with pain locations.
2. Removing the receptors or blocking them blocks capsaicin sensitivity.
3. Therefore if we can block these receptors they block pain.

Hype or spin, not science. It could be right, but that is not even close to being demonstrated here.Capsaicin does not cause pain, it causes heat sensations. This treatment might be good, when its developed, at blocking heat in things like burning feet syndrome. Fantastic. General pain though? Show me the evidence.

Yet to be fair this is the work of reporters. They often get these things wrong. We need a published paper.

Heat rubs etc. work by creating such a sensation of heat that the pain perception dwindles.

Don't get me wrong though. Intense sensations of heat are as bad or worse than regular pain. I should know, my burning feet syndrome is now burning body syndrome.

It is fair to say though that substance P is implicated in fibromyalgia, but so is small fiber neuropathy which is thought to be the primary cause of burning feet syndrome.
 

Husband of

Senior Member
Messages
313
Found this thread because I was looking to see if anyone else, like my wife, has a substantial flare up in symptoms, INCLUDING PAIN The next day, after eating chilli.