Role of Green Tea in Preventing Breast Cancer

Until now, green tea was a favorite among people attempting to lose weight and among the select few who look for medicine in their daily diets. However, a recent study suggests that extracts from green tea may be useful in preventing breast cancer.

How it helps:

Green tea, being made from unfermented and unprocessed leaves, is packed full of antioxidants and polyphenols. Free radicals, when present in the body, can prove to be dangerous. They change the composition of body cells, altering their true nature and function, damage the cellular DNA, speed up the ageing process and even cause cell death. This can result in a number of potentially hazardous health issues including cancer and heart disease.

Green tea, being rich in polyphenols, fights these free radicals effectively and prevents the free radicals from causing physiological damage.

Early studies conducted on the health benefits of green tea were merely population based studies. Even so, a report conducted demonstrated the surprisingly low numbers of cancer cases in Japan, where green tea forms a major portion of one's fluid intake.

However, the recent study conducted proves that Polyphenon E, a component of green tea is responsible for inhibiting hepatocyte growth factor and endothelial cell growth, both of which are responsible for causing cancerous and non-cancerous tumors. It is also believed that the polyphenols play a major role in killing cancerous cells and inhibiting their growth.

This recent research conducted in the Columbia University Medical Center in New York analyzed 40 women to demonstrate the efficacy of green tea in reducing cancer cell count and inhibition of growth of new cells. Women assigned to green tea extract showed a whooping ten-fold increase in resistance to breast cancer than those women assigned to placebo.

A few plus points:

The great news is that green tea is not just effective at warding away cancer, but also helps deal with many other health problems; a few of which are listed below.

• High Cholesterol: Green tea is thought to raise the levels of HDL (good cholesterol) and significantly reduce cholesterol levels.

• Atherosclerosis: The antioxidant properties of green tea may help prevent atherosclerosis, particularly coronary artery disease, according to researchers. Also, a recent survey conducted in the US claims that drinking 3 cups of green tea a day can reduce your risk of heart attack to 11%.

• Other cancers: The components of green tea are thought to prevent not just breast cancer, but also other cancers including colon cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, stomach cancer and skin cancer.

• Diabetes: Green tea extracts have already demonstrated their efficiency at regulating blood glucose levels, proving to be a boon to diabetic patients.

• Liver disease: Studies show that people who consume more than 2 cups of green tea a day are less likely to suffer from liver damage and other liver problems.

Reference: http://www.naturalnews.com/025687_green_tea_breast_cancer.html

Source-Medindia