Hot peppers are great for spicing up food. They may be even better for keeping the human body feeling in the spice of life. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in hot peppers and the one that turns up the heat. It is a compound useful in nature for preventing pepper plants from being eaten by insects and animals. When capsaicin is consumed by humans in the form of hot sauce, chili peppers or cayenne pepper, it offers a wealth of health benefits. One that has received much recent attention is the ability of capsaicin to make prostate cancer cells commit suicide.