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 . . .