Pepper is a condiment widely used in Brazilian cuisine. Acarajé, moqueca, baião de dois and even coxinha can bring the seasoning in their preparation and the food, easily accessible, can bring several health benefits.
A study showed that the compound capsaicin, present in chili peppers, can help prevent the development of lung cancer .
The researchers looked at human cells with lung cancer and found that capsaicin prevented cells from moving to other tissues or organs.
The main difficulty in treating lung cancer is the great chance of metastasis, that is, when the disease spreads to other parts of the body (brain and bones, for example).
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Therefore, the discovery that pepper prevents the advance of cancer cells may help to develop other treatments preventing metastasis from occurring.
Even with this optimistic result, scholars recommend that more analysis be done before the pepper is used clinically.
The research was published in the medical journal Experimental Biology
