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The Healing Powers of Hot Peppers
by Melissa T. Stock and Kellye Hunter
Part 3: Chile For Your Head
Treat your head with something hot.
While the thought of eating chile may make your mouth water, the idea of chiles in your eyes or nose is enough to make you cry--even though it can be good for you. In the West Indies, for example, the pressed juice of chiles is used to treat inflammatory eye disorders, and the water of boiled chile leaves is used as medication for asthma, cough, chest colds and tuberculosis. Because it causes sweating, chile is included in many folk remedies for alleviating fever, and because it kills both germs and pain, a capsaicin-based spray is used by some doctors to combat sore throats. Currently in the United States and Europe, doctors are studying capsaicin, the chemical that makes chile hot, as a way to alleviate symptoms of the head, nose, mouth and respiratory tract. One study at the Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago found that a pinch of pepper in baby food helped stroke patients (who are having difficulty swallowing) ingest their food more easily.
One theory is that capsaicin is a counter-irritant, an irritation to an irritation, that stimulates the nerves it contacts directly. One theory is that this stimulation depletes the nerves of Substance P, a neuropeptide that transmits pain signals to the brain, which then reduces pain and irritation in a treated area. Capsaicin irritation also helps the body work more efficiently by causing a protective reaction, particularly in the digestive and respiratory tracts, in which excess fluids are produced to flush out an unwanted invader. In this article we will explore some of the ways doctors and researchers are using capsaicin to soothe your head and help you breathe easier. Never before has it been so good to be so irritated.
Your Mom Was Right: Eat Your Chicken Soup
Millions of dollars and thousands of hours have been dedicated to finding a cure for the common cold. And to most people, the sick sentence remains the same: it takes about a week to get over a cold if you just suffer through it, seven days if you take over- the-counter medicine.
But don't despair! There's definitely a pecking order when it comes to fighting respiratory problems. According to much recent research, the powerful poultry/pepper one-two punch may be just what you need when battling bronchitis or combatting a cold. Add in a little garlic, and you've got a soup and a cure fit for a king, a doctor, and a researcher or two.
Dr. Irwin Ziment, a pulmonary specialist at the University of California at Los Angeles says that chicken soup does work to fend off a cold, and that there is sound medical reasoning behind his claim.
According to Ziment, as reported in Health Magazine, "Chicken, like most protein foods, contains a natural amino acid called cystine, which is released when you make the soup." Ziment says that this amino acid, "bears a remarkable chemical similarity to a drug called acetylcysteine, which doctors prescribe for bronchitis and respiratory infections." Added proof is that acetylcysteine was originally derived from chicken feathers and skins.
But just not any old chicken soup will do, says Ziment. The spicier the better, with
lots of chile peppers, hot curry and as much garlic as you or your co-workers can stand.
Mix this together and you've got a "potent pharmacological brew," he says.
However, it's not just the chicken which makes this remedy work. The chile peppers help to
flush out the cold virus by causing your eyes to water, scalp to sweat, and nose to run.
This rush of fluids actually starts in the mouth, throat and stomach where their
secretions help thin the respiratory mucus, so it's easier to cough up and expel. In
short, says Ziment, "spicy foods act something like classic cough syrups known as
expectorants." Daily intake of this decongestant soup is advisable until you're
feeling better. But at the very least make sure you eat a pepper or two daily. All that
vitamin A and C is sure to help chase even the nastiest cold away. And best yet, peppers
don't cause any side effects, says Ziment. "I am convinced that ninety percent of all
people can tolerate hot foods and get a benefit."
Relief For Sore Mouth Suffering
In what often must seem like a wicked twist of fate, most patients who receive radiation or chemotherapy to the head and neck develop serious oral lesions. The treatment necessary to make them better, at least initially, can make them feel worse. These sores of the mouth, or oral mucositis, are not only painful but "also can limit adequate nutritional intake and can decrease willingness of patients to continue treatment," according to the study Capsaicin for the Treatment of Oral Mucositis Pain, which appeared in the bulletin Principles & Practices of Oncology in January 1995.
The use of capsaicin as a reliever of mouth pain has a long history. A sixteenth century Franciscan monk living in Mexico found that the Aztec Indians used chiles as a "remedy to an injury to the tongue; biting of the tongue; laceration of the tongue." The treatment was to cook chiles with salt, and then spread the mixture on the tongue. Next bee honey or thickened maguey syrup was spread on. Whether they knew it or not, the Aztecs were on to something big.
Fast-forward to the twentieth century. In 1994, Yale University Ph.D. candidate Tracy Karrer had the idea to study the effects of capsaicin on desensitization of the mouth in relation to taste, touch and temperature in human beings. Working in conjunction with Yale professor Linda Bartoshuk Ph.D., they tested how much capsaicin it would take to desensitize the mouth mucous membranes. What they found was a relationship between the number of tastebuds a person has and the amount of burn from capsaicin they feel. Specifically, they determined that people fall into three basic groups; 25 percent are non-tasters, who have the fewest amount of tastebuds, and feel the burn the least. About 50 percent are medium-tasters, who have a medium amount of taste buds, and feel some heat. And last, 25 percent are classified as super-tasters, who have the most tastebuds, and feel the most burn from capsaicin. This study was significant because it helped to confirm that different strengths of capsaicin applied to the tongue in specific intervals would be necessary to desensitize the mucous membrane of the entire mouth.
Bartoshuk became interested in capsaicin more than twenty years ago. Until recently, she says, they didn't do any trials with capsaicin out of fear they would damage people. But the desire to help those who suffered from oral mucositis pain was greater than the fear, and a clinical trial was set up. "Our first test subject was a nurse with cancer who suffered from mouth lesions she developed during chemotherapy. When I first applied the capsaicin, my hand was shaking, and so was her tongue." The nurse and many other test subjects proved that through desensitization of the mucous membrane, capsaicin has provided a substantial amount of pain relief for oral pain sufferers.
Yale medical student Wolffe Nadoolman made a good idea even better by suggesting that the capsaicin be packaged within a candy to make it more palatable. What they came up with was a taffy because it is soft and easily ingested without additional pain. While all of this information is very promising, Bartoshuk cautioned that many more in-depth clinical studies must be done before the FDA can approve the "cancer candy" as a treatment. "There are many areas of pain that I believe capsaicin can effectively help treat, from burn victims, to children who have suffered side effects from radiation or chemotherapy. We would like to develop products such as chile gummy bears or capsaicin popsicles in a suitable strength for kids."
Heading Off The Pain
Cluster headaches are short-lived, but excruciating. In fact, Dr. Ninan T. Mathew, director of the Houston Headache Clinic once said in The Dallas Morning News that cluster headaches are the most severe form of head pain known to man. The pain, he says, is always isolated to one side of the head, and the attacks occur in groups or clusters, sometimes three or four times a day, and last from forty-five minutes to an hour. Sometimes the attacks will subside for months, or even years. Men comprise ninety percent of all sufferers, and Mathew says this phenomenon is probably related to testosterone levels. He has also found that the headaches can be precipitated by histamines, drinking alcohol, or taking or nitroglycerin, a heart medication.
Cluster headaches are not to be confused with migraine headaches, which last anywhere from two hours to two days, can cause nausea and vomiting, and affect mostly women. While nausea is not associated with cluster headaches, a person having an attack might experience one eyelid drooping and/or one nostril stopping up on the same side as the headache. Other symptoms can include watering and redness of both eyes and constricting pupils.
Enter capsaicin on a stick.
For the past four years Mathew has studied the effects of capsaicin on cluster headache pain. Patients use a cotton swab to apply a capsaicin cream such as Zostrix inside the nostril that is on the same side as the headache, and sometimes onto painful areas of the face. The first few treatments burn, but Mathew said the pain goes away after a few applications.
This treatment, however, does not necessarily provide instant relief. "It may work if applied immediately," says Mathew, "but it's more preventive than acute." He says it takes about two weeks of daily application to deplete Substance P from the nerve that extends from the nostril to the head, which then renders it incapable of producing pain. This can keep headaches from recurring.
Additionally, a cluster headache study published in 1994 from the University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy, confirmed that capsaicin desensitizes nerves, and also found that it alters blood flow in the head, particularly when applied in the nostril on the same side as the headache. These results, too, found that this treatment helped prevent future attacks.
Although these results sound promising, Mathew cautions that more studies on larger groups of people need to be done before he can recommend capsaicin as a definite treatment for cluster headaches. "It's an exciting idea that may not follow through," he says. "But theoretically, it has merit."
Breathing Easier
Some noses are more sensitive than others, particulary those suffering from rhinitis, an inflammation of the mucous membranes that line the nose. "When somebody with rhinitis is exposed to irritants, such as smoke, the nerves are stimulated and inflammation happens," says Dr. Alvin Sanico, who works in the division of Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center in Baltimore. Chronic symptoms include any combination of nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, sneezing and facial pressure or pain.
For the past several years, doctors at the Asthma and Allergy Center have been studying the effects of capsaicin nasal spray on these symptoms, and while their results are not conclusive, they believe that further irritation leads to relief.
Initially the capsaicin nasal spray itself causes inflammation, sometimes accompanied by an onslaught of symptoms, but Sanico says that when the spray is administered repeatedly, this response diminishes. He says the capsaicin desensitizes these overactive nerves by depleting Substance P, and once the nerves calm down, the nasal passages clear. It is important to note, however, that people who are repeatedly given capsaicin nasal spray as part of these studies are also given lidocaine to ease the burning.
Capsaicin has also been studied as a way to relieve asthma symptoms.
"It can be said that rhinitis is to the nose as asthma is to the lungs," says Sanico. "However, it would be a stretch to say that capsaicin can help asthma sufferers."
Doctors at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England found that capsaicin caused the bronchial tubes of asthmatic patients to constrict, but they did not document the effect of repeated exposure.
Perhaps with repeated treatment, as in the rhinitis studies, this constriction might relax and breathing could become easier. More studies need to be done.
The answers, however, lie not only in the future, but also in the past. James A. Duke, Ph.D. has written books on ethnobotony and is recently retired from the United States Department of Agriculture as chief of the Germplasm Resources Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Some of his research was quoted in a 1994 edition of USA Today: "Asthma can be life-threatening, so I don't encourage self-medication. But an attack in the jungle might be alleviated by an early Mexican Maya mixture, hot chocolate with hot pepper."
While this may seem a simplistic remedy for a serious illness, capsaicin has since been found to have a potent effect in desensitizing nerves and killing pain. Doctors are now working to translate these capabilities into medicines that may one day allieviate the things that hurt your head.
Melissa T. Stock and Kellye Hunter are former editors of Chile Pepper Magazine and are currently working for Fiery Foods, the official magazine of the National Fiery Foods Show, and Sunbelt Shows. Along with Dave DeWitt, they are currently working on a book titled The Healing Powers of Peppers, to be published by Clarkson/Potter.
TRUE STORY
Lael Littke of Pasadena says her "flesh cringes" when she thinks of her mother's remedy for chest colds: flannel plaster bags smeared with a concoction of dry mustard, water and cayenne pepper.
"She smeared this mess inside the two bags at bedtime, then fitted them onto the unfortunate child," Littke recalls. "After a couple tablespoons of cod liver oil...the child was deposited to bed, covered with heavy quilts, and left to fry gently all night.
"In the morning, our small chests were fiery red and close to blisters from the heat generated by the concoction, but we were free from congestion. Or, at least we claimed we were, to avoid a second night's cooking." Quoted from the Los Angeles Times, January 16, 1994.
RECIPES
The next three recipes appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, January 16, 1994.
For Fever
"This recipe was given to me by a Hawaiian acquaintance," says Norma Kalina of Van Nuys, California.
Take one thumb-size piece of ginger root, washed and peeled, and boil it in a cup or so of water for two or three minutes.
Add a pinch of cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon honey and the juice from half a lemon. Drink as hot as possible, as quickly as possible.
Serves: 1
The Nasty Tea
"This recipe was handed down from a singer who swears she has stopped numerous sore throats by drinking this tea regularly upon any hint of a cold," says Brenda Roes of Glendale, California. "I've since added to it, and it has helped me combat the winter nasties. It tastes horrible."
3 cups water
10 teaspoons cayenne pepper
3 cloves crushed garlic
3 tablespoons honey
3 lemons
3 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely chopped
Brew all the ingredients together. Squeeze the juice from the lemons, but leave the rinds floating in the tea. While simmering, put your face directly over the steam and inhale. Sip the tea and make a horrible face. Repeat as often as necessary.
Yield: About 4-5 cups
Sore Throat Remedy
"This has helped generations of our family," says Liz Anderson of Los
Angeles, who contributed this recipe.
Part One--Gargle deeply and often within the first 24 hours of symptom onset, alternating between solutions of lemon juice mixed with very warm water, then salt mixed with very warm water. Try this four times an hour.
Part Two--Alternately drink the following brews every two hours. Hot water, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and one clove; hot water, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper and one clove. Make these brews to taste--as strong as possible but not too much sweetener (only use honey).
For Influenza and Sore Throat
This recipe is found in Medicinal Plants of the West Indies by Edward S. Ayensu.
2 tablespoons small red peppers or 3 cayenne peppers
2 tablespoons fine salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup very sharp vinegar
Beat the peppers and the salt together into a paste and infuse this in the boiling water. Strain. When the mixture has cooled, add the vinegar.
Yield: 2 cups
Decongestant Soup
This soup is an adaptation from Dr. Ziment's own chicken soup recipe, which first appeared in Health Magazine in February 1992.
1 head of garlic, separated and peeled
1 4-pound stewing chicken
2 onions, cut in half
4 celery stalks, diced along with the leaves
4 carrots, diced
3 parsnips, diced
3 quarts water
1 teaspoon hot curry powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne powder, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dried basil
6 sprigs cilantro, minced
5 sprigs parsley, minced
Salt to taste
Place the garlic cloves and the whole chicken and half of the vegetables in a stockpot. Add 3 quarts of water and the spices, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 2 hours.
Skim the fat off the top of the soup and strain. Remove the chicken and refrigerate for later use (in salads, casseroles or your other favorite chicken dishes).
Add the remaining vegetables to the broth. Simmer for another 10 minutes and serve.
Heat Scale: Medium
Yield: 12 1-cup servings
Cayenne Pepper Taffy
This recipe, developed at Yale, has had much success but is currently not FDA approved.
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cups water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Butter a square 8x8x2 pan, and set aside. In a 2-quart sauce pan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, cornstarch, butter and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, to 265 degrees on a candy thermometer (or until small amounts of the mixture dropped into very cold water forms a hard ball). Remove from the heat; stir in the vanilla and cayenne pepper, and pour into the greased pan.
When the taffy is just cool enough to handle, pull the taffy until it is satiny, light in color, and stiff. If the taffy becomes sticky, butter your hands lightly. Pull into long strips, 1/2 inch wide. Cut the strips into 1-inch pieces. Wrap the pieces individually in waxed paper, and store them in an airtight container.
Heat Scale: Medium
Yield: About 1 pound