The Confusing News on Cancer And Green Tea

If you are taking green tea solely for the cancer protection, you could be interested in the result of a systematic review of studies that concerned more than 1.6 million subjects looking at the benefits of green tea.

The review finds 'limited' evidence that the green variety of tea offers any protecting benefits... Though it is still a natural, savory beverage just the same.

Green tea comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, as other teas - each type is made using different processing methods, and all forms are usually brewed and drunk as a drink.

Tea extracts can also taken in capsules, or you may find them in skin care creams. Tea is safe for most people if you drink it sparsely, though it does have some caffeine ( not without its own side effects ), and a bit of vitamin K ( an issue if you are taking anticoagulants like warfarin ) per cup.

There's been lots of studies over the years on tea of the green kind and its benefits to the body, and some proof that regular drinkers do have lower risks of coronary disease and maybe even some forms of cancer.

In China this delectable beverage is routinely used to treat illnesses like headaches and depression. There are a lot of varieties of tea grown in places all over the world, which allows for natural variations in taste and color due to growing conditions, harvesting and the kind of processing.

The team of researchers who conducted the newest work looked over existing scientific literature on the green range of tea - drinking or taking extracts - and identified 51 acceptable studies.

Twenty-seven of them were case-control studies, twenty-three cohort studies and one ( on prostate cancer ) a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of clinical trials.

The studies looked at green tea consumption and carcinoma of the colon, gynecological cancers including breast cancer, urological cancer including prostate problems, lung cancer and cancer of the mouth. The studies used were judged to be of medium to high methodological quality.

When it comes to stomach cancers and this type of tea the results were 'highly contradictory'. Boehm and the team found 'limited evidence' vis liver cancer risk and contrary evidence on digestive cancers.

Evidence for bladder and lung cancers was 'limited to moderate', with a finding that green tea might really increase the chance of bladder cancer. Green tea seemed to provide no protection for stomach cancers, with results termed 'moderate to strong' by the team.

Green tea salvages its good-for-you reputation when it comes to prostate cancer. Studies that are thought to be better quality do support a link between green tea ( in drink or extract ) and lower risk of illness.

At best, at the moment the linkage between green tea and cancer remains unproven though you'll have heard information from the study that link green tea to some amazing health benefits.

Benefits like improving heart health, lowering high cholesterol, reducing the damage due to free radicals, reducing the unnatural formation of blood clots as well as reducing the progression of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

Additional research is required - a large, carefully constructed research that involves participants who truly drink enough tea as an element of their daily consumption.

Naturally such work takes a lot of time and expensive - unnecessary if you're drinking tea for the taste and refreshment of it.

At intakes of five to six cups a day ( about 1,200 milliliters ) it is a safe, heavenly libation and though the benefits of green tea have not been completely confirmed, there's still evidence to show it helps with some conditions.

Next - just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for more on the benefits of drinking green tea, plus for a limited time get 5 free fantastic health reports. Click here for more details on the benefits of drinking green tea.

categories: benefits of drinking green tea,green tea cancer,green tea and cancer,diet and cancer prevention,cancer,health,fitness

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.