New Study Says Green Tea Helps Prevent Prostate Cancer

Men who are at least in their 40s and are at increasing risks of developing prostate cancer have two new choices how to avert the disease that affects majority of males in their later years. After a Harvard Medical School study released in mid-May that linked daily orgasms to avert the ailment, a new study from the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Florida said that green tea also helps prevent prostate cancer.

The research, led by Dr Nagi Kumar, conducted a random trial to analyse the effectiveness and safety on green tea components to prevent the ailment from developing among males who had pre-malignant lesions. The laboratory tests said that catechins, which are found in green tea, prevents the growth of cancer cells, including its invasion and motility that leads to the death of the cancer cells, reports Tech Times.

In animal tests, the catechin stopped and cut the growth of tumours. The study pinpointed to the epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG, as the most potent and abundant in the catechins. To test how effective was the EGCG, 49 high-risk men who were the study’s control group took two capsules of decaffeinated green tea capsules twice a day. The capsules, in 200 milligramme doses, were called Polyphenon E which had several catechins, mostly EGCG.

The subjects had high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, or HGPIN, or atypical small acinar proliferation, or ASAP. These two are lesions in the prostate gland that could be diagnosed as prostate cancer.

The 49 men were compared with 48 males who took placebo. The 49 who took Polyphenon E had lower levels of prostate-specific antigens, or PSA, an indicator of a person’s risk to develop prostate cancer. Moffitt will present the results of its research this week at the yearly meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

Outside the study, it has been observed that Asians, who consume 20 percent of the global green tea produce, have the lowest rate of prostate cancer. Meanwhile, Asians who migrated to the US and changed their diets, including lesser consumption of green tea, increased their risks of acquiring prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund, is the second most common cancer globally. However, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Healthcare pointed out in 2014 that the PSA test does not provide enough certainty and could detect other biomarkers as cancer. That warning is seen as a reason to include preventive care, according to Medical Daily. The choice has expanded to drinking green tea or having daily ejaculations.

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