Green tea and mushrooms might reduce breast cancer risk
Women who eat lots of mushrooms and green tea within their diets could have less risk of developing breast cancer, new study suggests. The research, of more than 2,000 Chinese women, found that the more fresh and dried mushrooms the women ate, the lower was their breast cancer chance. The danger was even lower among those who also drank green tea everyday. The rate of breast cancer in China is 4 to 5 times less than rates typically seen in western world, although the rate has been climbing since the last few decades in the most developed parts of China.
The present findings suggest that traditional diets and specifically, large quantities of mushrooms and green tea, could help explain China's lower breast cancer cases, as pointed out by lead researcher Dr. Min Zhang, of the University of Western Australia in Perth. She and her colleagues reported the findings in the International Journal of Cancer.
The research was conducted in southeast China and involved 1,009 breast cancer patients between the ages of 20 and 87, and an equal number of healthy women the same age. All completed an in depth dietary questionnaire, that asked them how frequently they ate specific foods. Overall, Zhang's team found, women who ate essentially the most fresh mushrooms, 10 grams or more per day, were about 60 % not as likely to build up breast cancer than non-consumers of mushrooms. Meanwhile, women who ate at least 4 grams of dried mushrooms daily had half the cancer risk of non-consumers. Mushroom eaters who also drank green tea everyday had only 11 to 18 percent of the breast cancer risk of women who consumed neither.
They did take into account several types of risk factors for breast cancer, like the women's weight, education level, and exercise frequency and smoking habits, but there might be additional factors that explain the findings. This is also the very first study linking high dietary amounts of mushrooms and green tea to reduce breast cancer risk, Zhang told Reuters Health.
The research doesn't prove cause-and-effect, the researchers point out. Therefore, she said, it's too soon for women to assume that foods can help them prevent the cancer. However, it's biologically plausible, the researchers explain.
Lab studies have shown that mushroom extracts have anti-tumor properties and, in animals, can stimulate the immune system's cancer defenses. For its part, green tea contains antioxidant compounds called polyphenols which have been shown to fight breast tumors in animals.
SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer, March 15, 2009.
Steve Roski
MyHealthTea.com
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2 Responses to “Green tea and mushrooms might reduce breast cancer risk”
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If you ask me the best way is to drink Japan teas like sencha, macha…
Green tea has a lot of benefits to our body, green itself can reduce breast cancer. Having a green tea with addition of mushrooms can probably reduce cancer.