Chillies could help fight breast cancer after scientists revealed the spicy ingredient causes diseased cells to self destruct.

Capsaicin, the active component that gives chillies their trademark kick, can switch on specialised channels surrounding cancer cells causing them to die.

Other cancers including colon, bone and pancreatic could also be killed off by the compound.

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.

Scientists from Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, treated human samples of breast cancer cells with the hot ingredient to find out more about its ability to destroy them.

Dr Lea Weber, writing in the journal Breast Cancer – Targets and Therapy, said: “Capsaicin is capable of inducing apoptosis (cell death) and inhibiting cancer cell growth in many different types of cancer, for example, osteosarcoma, colon, and pancreatic cancer cells, while normal cells remained unharmed.”

When capsaicin reaches a cancer cell, the spicy ingredient attaches itself to the edge of the cell known as the cell membrane and switches on a cell receptor called TRPV1. (Click to Article)