Influence of red chilli on lipids and bile acids in different tissues in experimental colon cancer.

Effect of feeding red chilli on the levels of lipids, fecal bile acids and fecal sterols was studied in animals given 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH). When the three experimental groups were compared with control, the levels of cholesterol increased while phospholipids and free fatty acids decreased or showed no alteration in most of the tissues studied. Cholesterol-phospholipid ratio was high in both DMH as well as in the chilli + DMH treated groups. Weekly assessment of bile acids and neutral sterols showed a significant increase in all the three experimental groups, when compared to the control rats. Morphological and histopathological studies show that there were a number of visible malignant tumors in the colon and intestine of all the three experimental animals.