Article critique and analysis methods

¶ … Science Daily called: Pepper Component Hot Enough to Trigger Suicide in Prostate Cancer Cells a study is examined to determine the validity and results of that study.

The article explores the study that was conducted with regard to using a type of pepper to kill off cancer cells in prostrate cancer. Capsacin, the product that was used in the study is the fire spice in jalapenos peppers. The article explored the study that was conducted to see if the substance was able to kill off cancer cells in patients with prostrate cancer and it determined that it does exactly that.

The background of the study was derived from the fact that there are many men in the United States who develop prostrate cancer. For men it is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. with almost a quarter million new cases each year. The article outlines these statistics as a backdrop to the study and explores the worldwide numbers. According to worldwide statistical data there are more than 680,000 cases of prostrate cancer each year.

The mortality rate for prostrate cancer includes more than 30,000 deaths in the United States on an annual basis, and more than 221,000 worldwide. This is approximately 13% of the diagnosed cases in the U.S. And 31% worldwide (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060319150754.htm).The article sets the stage for the study by sharing these statistics with the reader.

The background for the study came from the fact that medical professionals discovered that the components in the pepper spice actually caused cells to change. They began to wonder if it would also have an impact on cancer cells.

The study was conducted in a laboratory that collaborated with UCLA and their cancer researchers, to include:"Akio Mori, James O'Kelly, Takishi Kumagai, Julian Desmond, Milena Pervan, and William McBride. Mosahiro Kizaki, a former post-doctoral fellow in Koeffler's laboratory who initiated the capsaicin studies, is currently at the Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060319150754.htm)."

The overall findings of the study concluded that the element does indeed cause cancer cells of prostrate cancer patients to kill themselves through their metabolic changes created by the pepper substance.

The question that was asked was "Will Capsaicin drive prostrate cancer cells to die?"

The hypothesis was not hard to locate or follow as it simply wondered the following.

The introduction of Capsaicin to mice that have prostrate cancer will cause many of the cancer cells to die."

According to a team of researchers from the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in collaboration with colleagues from UCLA, the pepper component caused human prostate cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060319150754.htm)."

When the Capsaicin was introduced to mice that had prostrate cancer growing it killed approximately 80% of the cancer cells.

This was done by leading the capsaicin to follow molecular pathways that lead to the apoptosis of those cells.

Prostate cancer tumors treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in non-treated mice. Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Sren Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D., visiting scientist at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the UCLA School of Medicine. "It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060319150754.htm)."

The dose of the element fed to the mice was equivalent to400 milligrams being given to a 200 pound man on a three times a week basis according to the researchers.

This equals between three and eight fresh habanera peppers each week.