Complain about a product or service

Research Finds Green Tea Helpful Against Breast Cancer

Military scientists find antitumor effect in breast cancer cells

December 6, 2007

Breast Cancer • What Women -- and Men -- Should Know about Breast Cancer • Daily Aspirin May Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer • FDA Approves New Genetic Test for Breast Cancer • Gene Mutation Spreads Breast Cancer • Research Finds Green Tea Helpful Against Breast Cancer • Marijuana Compound May Fight Breast Cancer • Mayo Clinic Sees New Hope In Breast Cancer Drug • FDA Approves Evista For Reducing Breast Cancer Risk • Side Effects Drive Women from Breast Cancer Drug • Hypnosis Reduces Pain and Costs in Breast Cancer Surgery • Grapefruit Linked to Breast Cancer • Study Finds No Link Between Abortion, Miscarriage and Breast Cancer • Falling Breast Cancer Rates Linked to Declining Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy • Hispanic Women Three Times More Likely to Develop Advanced Breast Cancer • MRI Screening of Opposite Breast Necessary for Women with Breast Cancer • FDA Approves Tykerb for Advanced Breast Cancer Patients • FDA Clears New Breast Cancer Test • Needle Biopsy May Not Be Enough to Rule Out Breast Cancer in Some Cases • Red Meat May Increase Breast Cancer Risk • Breast Cancer Survivors Skipping Mammograms, Study Finds • Breast Implant Complications Frequent, Study Finds • Tests Show Drug Fights Aggressive Breast Cancer • California Sues to Require Cancer Warnings on Potato Chips and French Fries • Study Ties Fries To Breast Cancer Risk • Low-Fat Diet May Reduce Risk of Recurrent Breast Cancer • Study Suggests Pain Reliever, Breast Cancer Link • Trials Show Herceptin Aids Breast Cancer Recovery • That Pink Ribbon Can Be Misleading, Consumer Group Warns • Survival Better When Breast Cancer Detected Through Mammography

Green tea has long been thought to hold healing powers. Mysticism or medical fact? Increasingly, scientists are coming to the conclusion that the beverage provides some real benefits.

A team of scientists led by Dr. Radha Maheshwari, professor of Pathology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and Rajesh Loganathan Thangapazham, a graduate student, have shown that green tea has antitumor effect in breast cancer cells. The recently concluded study will be published in the Journal of Cancer Biology and Therapy, December 2007.

Maheshwari’s study observed that green tea can inhibit the invading capacity of the breast cancer cells and also identified the mechanisms involved in invasion-inhibiting effects of green tea.

Epidemiological studies also suggest that the risk of breast cancer is found to be less in Asian countries consuming green tea. These studies have greater clinical significance since the ability of these phytochemicals to activate anti-cancer program of tumor cells might determine the success of chemotherapy.

A study by Maheshwari that was published earlier this year in Cancer Letters showed that green tea is effective in delaying tumor incidence as well as in reducing the tumor burden.

Green tea was found to inhibit growth of tumors as well as induce death of breast cancer cells.

Background

Cancer is a disease caused by the increased proliferation of cells which group and form a lump, or tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant.

Cells from malignant tumors break away from the original tumor and spread to other parts of the body growing and forming new tumors. They can invade, penetrate into blood and lymphatic vessels, circulate via the bloodstream and can grow in a normal organ or tissue anywhere in the body.

Unfortunately treatment options for metastasis are very limited and usually represent the end stage of the disease. Unlike malignant tumors, benign tumors do not invade and, with very rare exceptions, are not life threatening.

Chemoprevention broadly implies the use of a chemical substance of either natural or synthetic origin, to prevent, hamper, arrest or reverse a disease. Phytochemicals are plant based non nutritive components with substantial medicinal properties.

Located on the grounds of Bethesda’s National Naval Medical Center and across from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USU is the nation’s federal school of medicine and graduate school of nursing.

Students are active-duty uniformed officers in the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Public Health Service, who are being educated to deal with wartime casualties, national disasters, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health emergencies.

The university conducts sponsored research in the combined sciences, including military-relevant research in parasitology, infectious diseases, treatment of traumatic injury, and other issues related to health, war, and national disaster.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.