Red Pepper and Functional Dyspepsia

Abstract
Functional dyspepsia is a common and distressing chronic digestive disorder of unknown cause.1,2 We examined the effect of treatment of functional dyspepsia with capsaicin (trans-8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide), a component of red-pepper (Capsicum annum) powder. Capsaicin selectively impairs the activity of nociceptive C fibers carrying pain sensations to the central nervous system3 and has been shown to relieve pain of cutaneous and mucosal origin.4