Abstract: Capsinoids are a class of non-pungent and lowly toxic capsaicin analogs extracted from ‘CH-19 sweet’ pepper and exert various physiological functions, thus having great potential for broad applications. Recently, capsinoids have been studied widely for their benefits in improving lipid and glucose metabolism and promoting anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant functions as well as enhancing endurance exercise capacity. In addition, capsinoids have many other bioactivities including anti-nociceptive, anti-allergic, swallowing reflex-enhancing, dermal insulin-like growth factor-up-regulating and brain region-activating effects. This paper reviews recent studies on capsinoids from physiological and mechanistic viewpoints with the goal of providing a theoretical basis for further studies and applications of these phytochemicals.

Key words: capsinoids, physiological function, mechanism, application