Green Tea May Prevent Lymph Cancers From Developing
According to a Japanese study, drinking green tea may lower your risk of developing certain blood cancers, but it would take consuming about 5 cups a day.
Dr. Toru Naganuma, at Tohoku University School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan told Reuters Health that drinking green tea has been associated with lower risk of heart disease deaths.
Naganuma said the current study suggests that drinking green tea may have a favorable effect "for particular cancers."
Naganuma and colleagues gathered information on the diets and green tea drinking habits of a large group of Japanese adults between the ages of 40 and 79 years old. The team followed the group for development of blood and "lymph system" cancers. The lymph system is a major component of the body’s immune system.
The researchers wrote in the American Journal of Epidemiology that the 19,749 men and 22,012 women that participated in the study had no previous history of cancer.
During the 9-year study, 157 blood, bone marrow, and lymph system cancers developed.
Naganuma’s team discovered that the overall risk for blood cancers was 42 percent lower among study participants that drank 5 or more, versus 1 or fewer, cups of green tea a day.
The people who drank 5 or more cups of green tea daily showed a 48 percent lower risk of developing lymph system cancers.
These associations held up in analyses that allowed for age, gender, education, smoking status and history, alcohol use, and fish and soybean consumption.
The team also studied the reduced risk for blood-related cancers among obese study participants, who are "considered to have higher risk of these cancers," Naganuma said.
The researchers said that further studies would be needed to confirm the health benefits of drinking green tea to help determine whether daily consumption might prevent certain cancers.
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