Hot peppers for happiness and wellness: a rich source of healthy and biologically active compounds

The genus Capsicum is nowadays widely spread. Fruits are not only used for food (spice), but also for therapeutic and wellness purposes (pain relief, rheumatic illnesses, breast and prostate cancer, obesity, heart diseases, hair loss treatments, and so on). These bioactivities are due to the abundant presence of alkaloids, capsaicinoids, which are found only in the fruits of Capsicum species. Fruits are also rich in many other antioxidant molecules, vitamins and carotenoids as compared to fruits and vegetables we regularly eat. In this view, chili pepper is one of the most important detoxifying edible products in the world! Five species of chilies have been domesticated, C. annuum L. being the most widely diffused in Italy and used in both domestic and industrial processing. Consequently, it is important to identify cultivars with higher levels of capsaicinoids and antioxidants, for their use as dietary supplement in food and/or as nutraceutical. This work refers to the quantitative analysis of pungency and vitamin C contents in fruits of ten Capsicum cultivars, together with their characterization through molecular markers.