This is a bummer. I have been diligently drinking my green tea thinking it can maybe be of some use. According to an article recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, consumption of green tea does not appear to have an effect on cancer mortality.
On the flip side, green tea seems to reduce the risk of overall death and death due to cardiovascular disease.
Researchers from Japan followed patients from the Ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study. It included 40,530 adults between the ages of 40 to 79 years. The participants had not been diagnosed with cancer, stroke and heart disease when the study began.
The study showed that the consumption of green tea had no effect on cancer mortality among these patients. It was good news that it did help those with cardiovascular disease.
I have heard so much about green tea and the antioxidants that I would really like to read more studies to see if maybe it can be of benefit. I still like green tea and will continue to drink it because tea is one of my favorite things.
1. Kristina - You asked for it (more studies), so here goes. You can view 158 abstracts of poster presentations on green tea from the last annual national meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in April 2006. Go to http://www.abstractsonline.com/viewer/?mkey=%7B3B61E356%2D411F%2D435F%2DACCA%2D167F0FDA48AD%7D, activate the Presentations circle, and search for "green tea." If that does not work, go to www.aacr.org and work your way down to abstracts for the 2006 annual meeting. AACR's prevention meeting from last year would probably also list some studies.
AACR researchers spend more time on basic type research than clinical research, so you will see more of that. There might be studies on green tea at www.asco.org, the site of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.
It's obvious that green tea is getting a lot of attention.
I still drink a lot, 4 to 10 bags worth per day, to try to improve my chances with prostate cancer. I've learned that "delivering the polyphenols from green tea on target" is not that simple. For example, without a little acid in the cup, the polyphenols lose much of their strength as they oxidize. You can see the change in color. Just a few drops of lemon juice takes care of that problem. Since I drink a lot of green tea, most is decaffeinated, and a decaf process that is not natural apparently cuts the strength of the polyphenols. Brewing the tea longer increases strength, as does dunking or stirring the tea bags. On the other hand, one study indicated that consuming milk or even soy milk near the time the tea was consumed would cut the strength of the polyphenols substantially.
As you say, at least we are getting some other benefits from it even if it turns out that it does not help fight cancer. In my mind, that issue is not yet decided.
Jim (web site: http://www.mycancerplace.com/profile.php?id=147)
Posted at 8:28PM on Sep 15th 2006 by Jim Waldenfels