Green tea and exercise stave off depression in breast cancer patients, study finds

Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, a researcher at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has found that "[b]reast cancer patients who exercise and drink tea on a regular basis may be less likely to suffer from depression than other patients."


Dr. Shu's study examined 1,399 Chinese women living in Shanghai, and "the type of tea [they] most commonly consumed was green tea."


The importance of avoiding depression is that "[d]epression may reduce a patient’s quality of life, increase the length of hospital stays and affect compliance with cancer therapy."



Vanderbilt's Dr. Shu.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea health benefits wrap-up

News about the health benefits of green tea just keeps coming, and the flurry has been especially heavy of late.


For instance, recently announced findings show that green tea reduces the risk of getting kidney stones, brain disorders, endometrial cancer (the most common gynecologic cancer), and type 2 diabetes, and is also heart healthy to boot.


Little green tea leaf, you are an amazing and hard-working plant.


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Harvard Women's Health Watch on the benefits of green tea

Harvard Medical School summarizes a recent article in Women's Health Watch that "recognizes the healthy power of tea while helping readers get the most out of their cups."



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Green tea halves leukemia risk: study

Yet more recent research points to green tea's cancer-fighting properties.


Results published in the American Journal of Epidemiology show that drinking 5 cups or more per day reduced the risk of leukemia and other blood cancers by one half compared to participants in the over 40,000-person-strong cohort who drank one cup or less per day.


For more information about green tea and leukemia, you can read previous postings in this blog.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea linked to less cancer in women

From ABC News:

As if you needed another reason to drink green tea: Japanese women, but not Japanese men, who regularly drink 5 or more cups daily appear about 20 percent less likely to develop stomach cancer, study findings hint.

The findings were published in a paper in the journal Gut.



Japan's National Cancer Center, where the study was conducted.


—Mellow Monk

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The tea sage speaks out

The New Tea Lover's Treasury author and Tea Society founder James Norwood Pratt says:

There is literally nothing better you can do for your physical self than drink tea. It fights everything from tooth decay to cancer. It's impossible to name any one substance that confers as many benefits as tea.

Well said, Brother Pratt.


The Tea Geek has recently interviewed Mr. Pratt.





—Mellow Monk

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Green tea fights leukemia, study shows

I blogged about green tea and leukemia previously.


Now, a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic has found additional evidence of green tea's leukemia-fighting properties.


The active ingredient believed to be responsible for shrinking tumors in the study is, of course EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is found only in green tea.


The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.



And now for something completely different: An amazing photograph of Saturn's rings.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea for cancer prevention

Health News has a concise rundown on green tea and cancer prevention, written by Dr. Cary A. Presant, MD:

[The green tea polyphenol] EGCG was shown to induce programmed cell death (apoptosis) in cancer cells growing in culture, and also reduce cancer cell growth in test tubes. It also was found to reduce growth receptors on cancer cells, so that cancer cells could not grow in response to chemicals that stimulate cancer cell reproduction.

Only a small portion of a huge, beautiful panoramic shot of the Philippines' magnificent Pana Banaue rice terraces.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and lung cancer

Lung cancer is a particularly nasty form of the disease because it can spread very quickly to other organs in the body. This spreading—called metastasis—happens when cancer cells break away from the main tumor, latch onto another organ, and begin reproducing until they have formed another tumor, after which the process starts all over again.


Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles have reported that green tea could help slow the spread of lung cancer—thereby improving the prognosis for treatment—by reducing the migration of the cells themselves.


Specifically, green tea polyphenols were shown to trigger molecular changes in tumor cells that made them "stickier" and therefore less able to detach from the main tumor and float away into the blood stream. The polyphenols also reduced the cancer cells' motility.


If you can make sense of this sentence

In particular we found upregulation of several genes that modulate actin remodeling and cell migration, including lamin A/C.

then why not dive into the full paper (PDF) ... and let me know what it means, would you?



... is where our tea is grown.


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Green tea, PAHs, and breast cancer

At a recent forum on breast cancer, Dr. Gail Sonenshein gave a presentation on how a green tea catechin can help prevent breast cancer.


According to Dr. Sonenshein — a professor of biochemistry at the University of Boston School of Medicine — epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) stops polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from turning healthy breast cells into cancerous ones.


Long known as carcinogens, PAHs are generated from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, polluted air or water, cigarette smoke, and charcoal-broiled foods.


Dr. Sonenshein's work is called "one of the most detailed molecular characterizations of how green tea may be an effective risk-reduction strategy for breast cancer prevention."


—Mellow Monk

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Breast cancer risk reduced by green tea: study

A study recently published in the Journal of Nutrition concludes that "regular drinking of green tea was associated with a slightly decreased risk for breast cancer."



The Yuyuan Old Town area of Shanghai, where the Journal of Nutrition researchers surveyed and compared the health histories of green-tea drinkers and non-green-tea drinkers.


—Mellow Monk

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Leukemia risk halved by green tea

Appearances can be deceiving. Case in point: Humble-looking green tea is so powerfully good for you that a recent study showed it can cut the risk of leukemia by half.


The study—led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health—examined nearly 900 participants and concludes that "[d]rinking sufficient amounts of tea, especially green tea, which contains more catechins than oolong tea and black tea, may reduce the risk of leukemia."


The full version of the paper, which was published in the journal Cancer Causes and Control, is available here.



Humble but healthy.


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Mother-to-baby benefits of green tea

Research conducted at Oregon State University and reported in the journal Carcinogenesis suggests that pregnant women who drink green tea may confer cancer-fighting benefits to their babies.


—Mellow Monk

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The bad patient (who saved his own life)

When he was being treated for leukemia, actor Evan Handler learned that being a "bad patient" is literally a matter of life and death:

In many ways, Handler is the ultimate empowered patient. "I learned that I must always remain in control, double-check everyone's work, and trust no one completely," Handler wrote of his approximately eight months in the hospital. "I must have been sheer hell to be around. But I know that my cantankerousness saved my life on several occasions."

Being a "bad" patient probably saved his life.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea shown effective against breast cancer

In a study done at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the green tea catechin epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) significantly inhibited breast tumor growth in female mice.



The Medical Center at Ole Miss, where the research was conducted.


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Study: green tea can prevent colon cancer

The latest issue of the journal Gastroenterology contains an article about how green tea can prevent colorectal cancer.


The chemistry involved is complex, but it basically breaks down like this:


The green tea antioxidant epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) interferes with the production of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Normal cells use bFGF to form blood vessels, but cancer cells produce it in excessive amounts to reproduce and spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body.


So, by impeding the overproduction of bFGF by cancer cells, EGCG stops cancer in its tracks.


In other words, green tea may be the beverage of mellowness, but it gets tough when it comes to cancer.



Cover of the issue of Gastroenterology containing the linked-to article about green tea and colorectal cancer.


—Mellow Monk

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Prostate cancer prevention and green tea

[This slipped through the cracks, but it's still newsworthy and just one example of studies showing green tea's prostate-cancer-fighting properties. —Mellow Monk]


Medical science has learned a lot recently about prostate cancer and its prevention.

[E]vidence has mounted that increasing vitamin E and selenium intake could also protect against prostate cancer, they said. Recent research also suggests that consuming more green tea, soy, vitamin D, and lycopene (typically found in tomatoes) might confer similar benefits.

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Green tea and ovarian cancer

Researchers comparing the impact of coffee, black tea, green tea, and cola on a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer found that women who drank at least 1 cup of green tea per day had a 54 percent lower risk of getting cancer. None of the other beverages was found to have any effect on risk.


The study concludes:

Green tea, which is commonly consumed in countries with low ovarian cancer incidence, should be further investigated for its cancer prevention properties.

The study appeared in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, which is published by the American Association for Cancer Research.



The American Association for Cancer Research, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, commemorated its 100th year with a conference in Singapore last year.


—Mellow Monk

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Got green tea? If not, you should

From Better Nutrition, via Red Orbit.com:

"Green tea is not the ambulance that comes rushing in to whisk away illness," explains Lise Alschuler, ND, a naturopathic oncologist and coauthor of the Definitive Guide to Cancer: An Integrative Approach to Prevention, Treatment, and Healing. "It is more like an insurance policy to protect us against diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes."

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Breast cancer inhibited by green tea

Not too long ago I blogged about a study suggesting one way green tea inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells — by disrupting the cancer cells' metabolism of fatty acids, which they need to survive.


Now a new study suggests yet another way that green tea fights breast cancer cells — by suppressing angiogenesis, or the growth of blood vessels in tumors.


The magical substance in green tea responsible for these cancer-fighting effects is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is found only in green tea.



A "first day of tea harvest" event in Japan.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea halves prostate cancer risk

A study conducted in Japan from 1990 to 2004 showed that men who drank 5 cups of green tea or more a day reduced their risk of developing progressive prostate cancer by half.



Japan's National Cancer Center, where the groundbreaking prostate-cancer study was conducted.


—Mellow Monk

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How green tea inhibits breast cancer growth

A study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment reports how a catechin in green tea inhibits breast cancer.


The paper explains that the catechin epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)—which is found only in green tea—blocks the activity of an enzyme that regulates the metabolism of the fatty acids that are necessary to the survival of breast cancer cells and most other common types of human cancer cells.



The structure of the amazing molecule EGCG.


—Mellow Monk

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Yet another report on the many benefits of green tea

This article summarizes a lot of recent research findings. For instance, tea (especially green tea):

• Fights prostate cancer.
  
• Raises levels of good cholesterol (HDL).
  
• Improves concentration.
  

The way tea makes us mellow and focused is the synergy between its theanine and caffeine—tea has just the right amounts of each. For instance, researchers

found that as little as 100 milligrams of theanine enabled people to focus better on complicated tasks, but only when consumed with 60 milligrams of caffeine—a combination found in roughly four cups of green tea (which contains half as much caffeine as black).

The news just keeps getting better for green tea drinkers, so keep on brewing, everyone!



If that were green tea it would be even healthier.


—Mellow Monk

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New discovery: how antioxidants in green tea prevent cancer and other diseases

Scientists at Clemson University have discovered a mechanism by which antioxidants in foods such as green tea prevent cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases.

Such diseases are known to arise from damage to DNA. What the Clemson researchers found is that antioxidants bind to iron and copper that is naturally present in the human body. This binding prevents the iron and copper from forming reactive oxygen compounds that damage DNA.

The findings, which were achieved with a grant from the American Heart Association, were announced this week at the 234th annual American Chemical Society national meeting in Boston.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and colorectal cancer

A study published recently in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention found that regularly drinking tea is associated with a 37 percent reduction in the risk of colorectal cancer.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea prevents bladder inflammation

I previously wrote about a study showing that green tea may help fight bladder cancer.

While we're on the subject of bladders, another study shows that green tea catechins also protect the bladder from inflammation. This opens the door to using green tea as a treatment for inflammatory bladder diseases, which affect millions of Americans each year.

The two catechins in which this anti-inflammatory effect was observed were epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and epicatechin gallate (ECG). Of these, EGCG is found only in green tea.



It looks so welcoming... I think I'll brew up a cup right now!


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and breast cancer: an update

I have posted on this same research group's results previously, but the University of Southern California has a more recent announcement on its website:

Recent research from Wu and colleagues suggested an explanation for the mixed effects on breast cancer rates: It seems that green tea lowers estrogen levels in women’s blood, while black tea elevates it. Estrogen has been found to promote the growth of some breast cancers.

Researchers at the University of Southern California are doing cutting-edge research on how green tea may prevent some forms of breast cancer by reducing estrogen levels.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea could reduce the risk of skin cancer

A study published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention says that drinking tea may lower your risk of getting skin cancer.



Just remember: Don't put milk in your green tea!


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, lung cancer, and green tea extracts

Researchers at UCLA have found that green tea may fight lung cancer.

What they found is that lung cancer cells left in a test tube containing green tea became "stickier" and therefore less like to metastasize. (Its proclivity to metastasize—or to spread throughout the body from the original cluster of cells—is what makes lung cancer so deadly.)

The mechanism by which green tea makes the cancer cells stick together most likely has to do with proteins: Some compound—or combination of compounds—in the green tea changed a critical protein on the cancer cells' surface, making them stick together.

Although this study does not prove that green tea prevents lung cancer, it does indicate that further research is warranted.

This report also brings up an important point about green tea extracts. Extracts are usually made to isolate specific compounds, such as the well-known antioxidant EGCG. However, the extract-making process may leave out compounds that are unknown today but which may someday be shown to have amazing health benefits.

The moral of this story, grasshopper, is Never second-guess Mother Nature.

Besides, by drinking brewed green tea, you're also hydrating your body. And brewed green tea tastes better than any pill!

So drink freshly brewed green tea—because you never know what you might be missing.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea fights bladder cancer

A study published in a recent issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research shows that green tea can help prevent bladder cancer, which, surprisingly, is "the fifth most common cancer in the United States, with about 56,000 new cases diagnosed each year."

Actually, researchers in this study used green tea extract, but let's remember that the extract is a subset of all the wonderful natural compounds contained in brewed green tea. Scientists are only now beginning to identify and understand those compounds. Who knows what they are overlooking now? Pop a green-tea pill and you may be missing some as-yet-undiscovered compound. Drink an infusion of natural green tea, and you're getting all of nature's bounty.

Besides, a cup of hot green tea tastes much better than a pill. It's more relaxing, too.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea fights prostate cancer

A study done at the University of Wisconsin is one of many showing that green tea can prevent prostate cancer.

Researchers found that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol found only in green tea, inhibits tumor growth and metastasis (spread) and also induces apoptosis—cancerous cells "commit suicide" while healthy cells are left alone.



A cup a day keeps the doctor away.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea controls prostate cancer

A study done at the University of Wisconsin and Case Western Reserve University found that the polyphenols in green tea fight the proliferation and spread of prostate tumor cells.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, breast cancer, and estrogen levels

In this study, a group of University of Southern California medical researchers who had previously "provided the first set of human evidence that breast cancer risk is significantly inversely associated with tea intake, largely confined to intake of green tea," investigated one possible reason for the lower incidence of breast cancer among green tea drinkers: estrogen levels in the blood.

The study found that postmenopausal women who drank green tea regularly had a statistically significant lower (13%) level of estrogen in their bloodstream than women who drank tea irregularly or not at all. (Women who drank black tea regularly had 19% higher estrogen levels.)


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and ovarian cancer

A study conducted in Sweden finds that drinking two or more cups of green or black tea every day may reduce the risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer by half.

—Mellow Monk

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Cancer: how it spreads

The ability of cancerous tumors to spread through the body (metastasize) is what makes the disease so hard to treat. Scientists used to assume that tumors metastasize when individual cells break off from the main tumor and are carried by the bloodstream to other sites in the body.

However, a landmark study published in Nature has observed, for the first time ever, an important part of the actual metastasis mechanism, and it's not that simple.

In a nutshell: Before "emissary" cancer cells break off, the main tumor releases chemicals called growth factors into the blood. The growth factors induce certain cells in the body to produce a protein called fibronectin, which binds those cells together into a nest-like structure. This structure then attracts a certain type of bone marrow cell, completing the "nest." It's at this point that the tumor releases individual cells, which settle into the nest and begin forming a new tumor.

The potential for a huge breakthrough in cancer treatment lies in finding ways to block the growth factors involved or other steps in the metastisization process.

The full text of the article is available on the Nature website here.

—Mellow Monk

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