Italy's popular chili pepper peperoncino raises the risk of getting prostate cancer, Italian doctors said Wednesday.
Speaking on European Prostate Awareness Day, the Italian Society of Urology (SUI) warned men not to eat too much peperoncino in the belief that it will spice up their love life.
"Peperoncino is often used as the poor man's Viagra but you shouldn't have too much of it if you want to avoid prostate trouble," said SUI President Vincenzo Mirone.
"Reckless use, in fact, inflames the gland. It causes prostatitis, which scientific studies have shown is linked to tumours".
Mirone, however, may have blunted the SUI's anti-chili drive by stating that peperoncino "stimulates desire in the male".
Peperoncino, which is believed to have been brought back to Italy by Christopher Columbus, has been celebrated as a boost for potency since ancient times.
The belief still plays a large but mainly jocular part in Italian festivals dedicated to the spice.
Peperoncino is liberally used in many Italian dishes, especially in the south, where it adds pep to the region's essentially simple cuisine.
One of the Mezzogiorno's most colourful sights is that of strings of red chili peppers hanging out to dry in summer, from windows and balconies, on washing lines, spread out on the hoods of cars, or nailed to trees in the countryside.
The longer peppers are preserved in oil and vinegar and often munched straight out of the jar but the smaller ones are much hotter and reserved for cooking.
The hottest of all are the tiny diavoletti, which are indeed "little devils," to be eaten at your peril.
One of Rome's simplest and most popular treats is spaghetti laced with a hot sauce of olive oil, garlic and peperoncino.
The biggest chili-head get-together is at Diamante, Calabria, in early autumn.
Calabria is particularly attached to the pepper and generations of poor Calabrian emigrants have taken it with them worldwide.
Calabria even has a Peperoncino Academy, with local chapters around the world.
Worldwide, prostate cancer is the second-biggest cause of death among men after lung cancer.
