Tea and Cancer
The evidence that tea helps prevent cancer is overwhelming. Since the 1990’s, hundreds of studies have been performed showing that tea can inhibit the formation of tumors, and slow the growth of those already formed. In 1997, researchers at the University of Kansas discovered that the antioxidant power of EGCG is about 100 times greater than vitamin C and twenty-five times greater than vitamin E in protecting DNA from the kind of free radical damage that is thought to increase the risk of cancer.
Researchers also found that EGCG is able to signal cancer cells to stop reproducing by promoting apoptosis, a normal cellular process leading to the death of a cell – without harming any healthy cells.
Tea and breast cancer:
Scientists have long noted that breast cancer is much less common in countries where green tea is regularly consumed. One Japanese study found a decreased risk of recurrence for early-stage cancer patients who drank three or more cups of green tea. This suggests at least the possibility that regular green tea consumption may help prevent recurrence of breast cancer in early-stage cases. A Chinese study found that women who consumed at least 26 ounces of green tea leaves each year had a 39-percent reduced risk of breast cancer compared to non-drinkers. Twenty-six ounces of dried leaves per year equates to only 300 cups of green tea over the course of a year, which equals less than one cup per day.
Tea and ovarian cancer:
A Swedish study of more than 61.000 women, published in 2005, showed that women who consumed two or more cups of green or black tea every day lowered their risk for ovarian cancer by 46 percent, with each additional cup of tea lowering the risk by another 18 percent. A study of 1.200 American women, published in 2007, showed that the more black tea the women drank, the greater protection against ovarian cancer: compared to women who did not drink black tea, women with a usual consumption of at least two cups a day experienced a 30-percent decline in ovarian cancer risk.
Tea and lung cancer:
A study published in 2003 found that smokers who drank four cups of decaffeinated green tea per day demonstrated a 31-percent decrease in biomarkers of oxidative DNA damage in white blood cells as compared to those who drank four cups of water. Oxidative DNA damage is implicated in the development of various forms of cancer. A study published in 2007 in the Journal of Inflammation found that black tea had a positive preventive effect. In this study, guinea pigs were subjected to cigarette smoke exposure and then given water or black tea to drink. The cigarette smoke, needless to say, caused damage to the guinea pigs’ lungs, which was prevented when they were given black tea infusions to drink instead of water.
Tea and prostate cancer:
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men. More than 230.000 American men are diagnosed with this disease each year, according to the American Cancer Society. A study published in the December 1, 2004 issue of Cancer Research showed that the polyphenols present in green tea help prevent the spread of prostate cancer by targeting molecular pathways that shut down the proliferation and spread of tumor cells, as well as inhibiting the growth of tumor-nurturing blood vessels. An Italian study published in 2005 found that a supplement containing antioxidants from green tea was 90 percent effective in preventing prostate cancer in men at high risk for the disease. That study found that after a year of taking green tea catechins, only one man in a group of thirty-two who were at higher risk of prostate cancer actually developed the disease, while nine men in a group of thirty high-risk men who took a placebo without tea developed prostate cancer.
It’s also recommended to lose weight if you want to avoid prostate cancer. An American Cancer Society study that included 900.000 Americans who were followed over sixteen years showed that the increased risk of prostate cancer for men who were overweight was 8 percent, for obese men the risk was increased by 20 percent, and severely obese men were more than 34 percent times more likely than men of normal weight to suffer from the disease.
A study of Australian men reported that obese men were 2.2 times more likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer than lean men, with each 22 pounds of excess weight boosting the risk by 40 percent. And abdominal obesity has been linked to nearly a threefold increase in the risk of clinical prostate cancer in China.
Tea and other cancers:
Hundreds of other studies have been done showing that tea can help prevent many others types of cancer, including skin, stomach, bladder, and colon cancers.
Tea and chemotherapy:
Preliminary studies have shown that L-theanine enhances the results of some chemotherapy drugs by preventing cancerous cells from rejecting the drugs after the drugs have entered the tumor cells. L-theanine has also been shown to ameliorate some of the side effects of these drugs.
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