Issue date: Sept. 25-27, 1998
 Two ways tea seems to fight breast cancer
Green and black tea are packed with antioxidants, which prevent cellular damage that
leads to disease and aging.
Also this week:
Dr. Bob Arnot on "The anti-breast cancer diet"
New therapies and resources on breast cancer
In this article:
Scientific sources for this column
Green tea may inhibit recurrence
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| News flash: Children breast-fed as infants have about half the
chance of having a respiratory illness as do bottle-fed babies, according to British
researchers. |
 rinking
green tea seems to reduce the severity of breast cancer, say Japanese researchers at
the Saitama Cancer Center Research Institute. In women undergoing breast cancer
surgery, cancer spread to the lymph nodes was less frequent in heavy consumers of
green tea, they found. Further, researchers followed 472 patients for seven years.
Women with smaller, less aggressive breast cancers who drank more than five cups of
green tea a day were 50 percent less likely to have a recurrence than women drinking
less than four cups daily. Thus, green tea appeared to improve prognosis and survival
by suppressing the spread and growth of breast cancer.
Milk in tea boosts antioxidants
 ome say adding milk, as the British do, wipes out tea's
antioxidant disease-fighting properties. But Dr. John Weisburger of the American
Health Foundation found that a little milk with tea actually boosts protection
against breast and colon cancer in animals.
But lots of milk abolished tea's anti-cancer effects. Weisburger figures a couple of teaspoons
of milk in an 8-ounce cup of tea increases anti-cancer activity. More milk or cream
can neutralize tea's benefits.
Photo Credit: CLAUDIO VAZQUEZ FOR USA WEEKEND
SCIENTIFIC SOURCES FOR THIS COLUMN (9/27/98)
Green Tea vs. Breast Cancer
Nakachi, K., Jpn J Cancer Res 1998 Mar:89(3): 254-61
Milk in tea
Weisburger, John, Cancer Letters 114 (1997): 323-327
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