Tea drinkers might have reduced skin cancer risk

Those who relax with a cup of tea nightly, might have less risk of developing 2 common types of skin cancer, new study suggests. In a study of nearly 2,200 adults, researchers found that tea drinkers had a lower risk of developing squamous cell or basal cell carcinoma, the 2 most frequent types of skin cancer.

However, the findings don't mean it's okay to bake in the sun as long as you have a cup of tea afterward. The researchers found no evidence that tea drinking lowered skin cancer risk in people who'd accumulated painful sunburns previously. The study also did not consider the relationship between tea drinking and malignant melanoma, the least common but most deadly type of skin cancer.

Individuals who had been regular tea drinkers — having more than 1 cup a day — were 20 percent to 30 percent less likely to build up the cancers, compared to those who didn't drink tea. The result was even stronger among study participants who'd been tea fans for many years, and also people who regularly had at least two cups a day, based on findings published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Still, the findings support the theory that tea antioxidants may limit the damage UV radiation inflicts on the skin, according to the study authors, led by Dr. Judy R. Rees of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Particularly, the tea antioxidant referred to as EGCG is shown to decrease burning on UV-exposed skin. The present findings derive from interviews with 770 New Hampshire residents with basal cell carcinoma, 696 with squamous cell carcinoma, and 715 cancer-free people within the same age group. Tea consumption was associated with lower skin cancer risk, even with factors such as age, type of skin and history of severe burns. However, tea drinkers who'd suffered multiple painful burns previously, didn't end up with a lower risk of skin cancer.

Possibly, the study explains, that the antioxidants in tea are sufficient to limit skin damage due to moderate sun exposure, however not the "more extreme" effects of sun exposure, like cancer-promoting harm to the DNA in skin cells. Please consult our article directory for more tea and cancer articles.