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A Green Tea Myth Exposed
By Victor Marchione, M.D. on 11/12/2010
In alternative medicine, just as in any form of medicine, it’s as important to understand what may not work as it is what may. And in medical circles, green tea keeps going around…in circles.
Green tea has been found in many studies to exert protective effects in the body. That protection has extended to cancer. Green tea is steeped in history, and is believed to be the first tea ever created — by an ancient Chinese emperor, no less. But it also has come with quite a bit of contention throughout the decades, as regulatory bodies are hesitant to come out and say that it is good for disease prevention.
A new study took aim at green tea and breast cancer, one of the most common tumors on the globe. It included about 54,000 women and was published in the new issue of “Breast Cancer Research.” And it found there was no link between drinking green tea and your risk of getting breast cancer.
So, for any women out there, particularly those at higher risk of the disease, it wouldn’t be a good idea to rely on green tea in any serious way for shielding yourself from breast cancer.
Many studies in the lab and on animals have suggested that green tea may have beneficial protective effects against breast cancer. But results from human studies have been far less conclusive.
The new study, a large one that is based on a large population of people, is believed to be one of the first to include a wide range of tea intakes. It spread from women who drank less than one cup of green tea a week to 10 or more cups a day (a true tea lover). Overall, regardless of the level of tea consumed, there appeared to be no link to breast cancer prevention.
About 12% of women drank less than one cup a week, while more than double (27%) drank five or more cups per day. The study had a good design and its result is to be taken seriously. Drinking green tea is, the researchers say, unlikely to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
And on and on we go. Green tea is still a healthy beverage, but its cancer preventative qualities are still being put to the test.
Printer-friendly versionAbout the author
Dr. Victor Marchione received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1973 and his Medical Degree from the University of Messina in 1981. He has been licensed and practicing medicine in New York and New Jersey for over 20 years.
Dr. Marchione is a respected leader in the field of smoking cessation and pulmonary medicine. He has been featured on ABC News and World Report, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and the NBC Today Show and is the editor of the popular The Food Doctor newsletter.
Dr. Marchione has also served as Principal Investigator in at least a dozen clinical research projects relating to serious ailments such as bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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Comments
oldbill
Green tea promotes blood flow. This may or may not be good for a cancer, depending on ones immune system and the structure of the cancer tumor(s). Green tea is a "food" not a medicine. Unless you believe the ancient Greek physician, "Let food be our medicine..." then any food in a vacuum will probably fail the medical trial test. Cancer is a symptom of a catastrophic failure of the immune system. We poison ourselves and then starve ourselves for complete nutrition, and the system fails. Green tea can certainly be a part of a heathly diet, but we are kidding ourselves if that is all we do for our healthcare.
ZedeZ
There are all kinds of green tea, the quality also varies, depends on the region in china where it's mostly harvested. there are organic green teas, there are japanese varieties of green tea, Macha Green tea, which is far and beyond more powerful than the regular green sold in supermarket.
There is Kombucha green tea, again, much more healthier than regular green tea.
So, it depends what kind of green tea was used in this study, and WHO funded this "study". It could could that BIG PHARMA is behind this crap. BigPharma now is extremely concerned of their future, as billions and billions of people around the world are discovering Bigpharma's crimes against humanity.
In any case, any GREEN TEA is healthy. I very doubt in this "study".
Try to drink a good quality green tea, from better brands, which you can see only in health food stores.
Steve
Depending on any one thing for your health or prevention is not wise in any case. Try to cover several bases.
K.N.Devasenapathy
one among the reasons for breast cancer being wearing very tight under garments resulting in choking the lymphatic system.
I don't know what has green tea to with this.Green tea may be good as long we do not choke it's good properties by adding all unwanted additives to satisfy our taste consciousness
Lori
One problem with the way we study anything is that we're completely myopic. We study everything pretty much independant of anything else. We've done this with calcium and the consequences have been nothing short of catastrophic. The research is clear that without the co-factors essential for calcium absorption and deposition, we run a clear risk of calcium dysregulation. In the case of green tea, of course it's a healthy beverage. But to imply that it can, independant of anything else, prevent cancer is ridiculous.
Anonymous
In so called "studies" which results in a negative evaluations of a nutritional supplement or food I have learned to be suspicious.I no longer blindly presume an honest assessment free of "gimmicks" has been made.To many hirlings of "BIG PHARMA" out to discredit the competion with "rigged" studies. I remember well and have frequent reason to recall my statistic teacher's opening comment to our class."Statistics don"t lie,but statisticians invariably do"Meanwhile.I'm enjoying my third cup of green tea.
vikingstork
"Kombucha green tea" - you surely must be kidding us. Kombucha is fungus, and has nothing to do with tea, green or otherwise
vikingstork
I find studies with positive evaluations just as suspect.
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