Consumption of capsaicin-rich products, lead to cancer - How correct is this statement?

The worries over minor possible carcinogens is dwarfed by the obvious

association of lung cancer deaths to tobacco use. Over one third of all

cancer deaths in the U.S. are attributable to smoking cigarettes.

Any other chemicals marginally associated with malignancies pale

in comparison.

From the NCI (National Cancer Institute)

"Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 443,000 deaths each year,

including approximately 49,400 deaths due to exposure to secondhand smoke.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women

in the United States, and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths among men

and approximately 80 percent of lung cancer deaths among women are due

to smoking.

Smoking causes many other types of cancer, including cancers of the throat,

mouth, nasal cavity, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix,

and acute myeloid leukemia.

People who smoke are up to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than

nonsmokers, and the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked.

Smoking also causes most cases of chronic lung disease.

In 2009, approximately 20.6 percent of U.S. adults were cigarette smokers.

Nearly 20 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes."

Worrying about capsaicin would seem a moot point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin

There are a limited number of studies that conclude that capsaicin may be active in both causing AND preventing certain cancers, and when that is the situation, the ONLY logical conclusion is "we do not yet know"....

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/71/8/280...

Based on purely anecdotal observations in humans, however, it is interesting to compare rates of cancer between populations of humans who eat lots of "hot, spicy" foods with populations of people who eat none...

To add to Spreedog's awesome post I would say that second-hand smoke even would cause so very much more damage than any spicy food ever could.

I never heard that it did???