Can Cap Cure Cancer?

If it turns out to be true
 
The next thing you know, peppers will be outlawed
 
Im not buying peppers from a dirty hippy
 
As I understand it, bioavailability is the problem.  Studies show that Cap does indeed inhibit, even kill, some tumor cells when directly applied.  Unfortunately, none/very little of the cap that is making you puke will make it into your bloodstream.
 
My wild-assed guess is that hot peppers might(?) be useful in directly treating shallow mouth, esophageal, stomach, and maybe intestinal cancers.

As for Puckerbutt, IMO he's full of marketing bullshit and is abusing the basic science by implying that hotter peppers will somehow be more effective.
Cap can easily be synthesized or concentrated from less hot (but more productive) peppers.
 
As someone possessed of a rare and inoperable brain tumor, you can imagine I stay up on cancer research. Sadly, this bit of news is the scientific equivalent to a statement from NASA along the lines of "We now see it as feasible to build a permanent base on Pluto!" We currently can't even perform a proper controlled landing on Mars (we're still dropping things like a cargo plane and hoping they don't break). We lack the tech to put a permanent base on the closest satellite to our world. Long way off to even see if the stated claim actually IS feasible to begin with. I'm of the opinion that this study and story are just someone trying to get published for their doctorate.

Geonerd said:
As I understand it, bioavailability is the problem.
Exactly. It's important to note that this study was TINY and is only in regard to direct injection of an isolated and concentrated capsaicinoid to an extracted lump of known cancerous cells. It was also performed on the single most well understood and treatable form of cancer outside of melanoma (breast cancer). Of key note is the following:

However, capsaicin isn't effective if it's eaten, inhaled or injected, and researchers think it will only be effective as a pill attached to another drug that targets cancer cells.
Even if you inject Caps directly to your bloodstream, they will do nothing but circulate and eventually pass out of your system. Capsacin is an oil and functions much like fiber. Your body does not digest it, absorb it, retain it, etc. It simply passes through or over your system on its way to an exit point. For it to be used as a treatment, science will need to first figure out a compound that (A) only targets specific types of cancer cells and (B) forcibly adheres a Cap payload to the part of those cells that would be damaged by it.

That kind of tech is a long way off and it is likely that each type of cancer would need a custom tailored delivery drug. (There are hundreds of different types of cancer.) The fully modern cancer drugs they used on me last time were a tactical nuclear cocktail that wrecked all manner of healthy cells while doing their job. I was literally a toxic human being during chemo. Relatively minor physical contact with me could have been enough to make you seriously ill. That's the current level of cancer science available. Damn near kill someone and hope that you manage to at least put a ding in the cancer while doing so.

On the bright side, peppers rock and nobody here should need any excuse to eat tons of them at all times. :D As Geonerd points out; science can get exactly what they need for further study, in fully effective doses, likely from a garden variety jalapeno or serrano. That's cheaper and easier than superhot farming. If there's any meat to their theories, it will be relatively cheap to produce unless the delivery mechanism is expensive. Cheers.
 
Too bad Nigel is not around.  He'd have much to say.  He once told me that a "cure for cancer" is a misnomer since cancer is not a single thing which would respond to a single cure.  He said that cancer is far to complex and varied to think a single cure would ever be found, i.e., not possible.  I'm really doing a disservice to how he explained it to me since I'm not a scientist, and he is. 
 
Slug said:
As someone possessed of a rare and inoperable brain tumor, you can imagine I stay up on cancer research. 
 
I appreciate your bravery in sharing this. I value your opinions and just feel thankful when I read pragmatic and measured and analytical observations like yours. Thank you for posting.
 
I don't think "cure" is the right term to use. I don't think they will ever find a cure. But they may discover new promising "treatments".

I'm sceptical when they claim anything can be used to cure cancer. The marijuana folks make that claim, but I see a lot of friends with cancer who smoke every day and doesn't seem to make a difference.

The other thing is killing cancer cells is easy, but doing it in a way that doesn't kill healthy cells is a lot harder. My know it all mother in law thinks bleach is the cure because it kills everything. Ya, including the patient! I think I'll pass!
 
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