Red Pepper and Functional Dyspepsia

To the Editor: 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 After the exclusion of patients with gastroesophageal reflux and irritable bowel syndrome, we monitored 30 patients with functional dyspepsia² for two weeks while they were receiving no medications. Fifteen patients were . . .