Green Tea and Cancer Prevention: New Clues

Green tea and its extracts have long been studied for health benefits, including cancer prevention.

Now, researchers have new clues about how it may work to help prevent or slow the growth of prostate and breast cancers.

Researchers presented the new findings here today at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting on cancer prevention.
Green Tea and Prostate Cancer

Men with prostate cancer who drank green tea had less prostate tissue inflammation, linked to cancer growth, and other changes than those who didn't drink it, says Susanne M. Henning, PhD, RD, adjunct professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

''We were able to show the green tea polyphenols (antioxidants) reached the prostate tissue and they did modify inflammation of the prostate," she says. Polyphenols are antioxidants that protect against cell damage.

Henning's team assigned 79 men with prostate cancer scheduled to undergo surgery to drink either six cups of brewed green tea or water daily. They did so for three to eight weeks, depending on when their surgery was scheduled.

Before and after the study, Henning obtained urine and blood samples. She collected samples of prostate tissue after the surgery.

She reported on the 67 men who finished the study. Levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, were lower after the study in those who drank green teas. Higher levels of PSA, a protein produced by the prostate gland, may reflect prostate cancer.

An indicator of inflammation, called nuclear factor-kappaB, was also reduced in those who drank green tea compared to those who didn't, Henning found. Inflammation is linked to cancer growth.

"We were not able to inhibit tumor growth," she says. But the study length may not have been long enough to show that; a longer-term study is needed, she says.

The National Institutes of Health funded the study.

Green Tea & Prostate Cancer: Implications

Prostate cancer is typically a slow-growing cancer, Henning says. That makes it an ideal cancer to try diet interventions to slow it even more.

"Green tea is high in polyphenols and it's convenient," she says.

Other research has found that green tea may slow prostate cancer. An Italian study found that men who had a precursor to prostate cancer and drank green tea were less likely to get prostate cancer, Henning says.

Now, Henning is studying whether adding quercetin, an antioxidant found in apples and onions, to the green tea will ramp up its cancer-fighting ability.

Sumanta Pal, MD, assistant professor of medical oncology at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., reviewed the study findings for WebMD.