Green Tea and Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer found in American men and it is estimated that 1 man in 6 will get prostate cancer during his lifetime.
A new study investigated the effects of a botanical antioxidant in subjects with prostate cancer. The botanical antioxidant? Green tea extract.
In this new study, 26 men with confirmed prostate cancer were given a supplement of green tea constituents. The supplement contained a total of 1.3 grams of green tea polyphenols, which included 800 mg of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and lesser amounts of epicatechin, epigallocatechin, and epicatechin-3-gallate.
The men received the green tea supplement until the time of their radical prostatectomy surgery, averaging a supplementation period of 34.5 days.
Blood tests were performed at the beginning of the study and again on the day of surgery. The blood tests included:
- prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a test commonly performed to monitor prostate health
- hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) which is a factor that regulates cell and tumor growth
- vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) which is a signaling protein believed to influence cancer progression
- insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I which is a protein that has been shown to play a role in the development of cancers
- IGF binding protein-3 which regulates the activity of IGF
- liver function tests to monitor possible toxicity.
- In addition, cancer-associated cells known as fibroblasts were treated in vitro with EGCG and were tested for HGF and VEGF.
The study showed a significant reduction in the levels of the serum cancer biomarkers HGF, VEGF, PSA, and liver enzymes in the test subjects after treatment with the green tea supplement. Additionally, some patients demonstrated reductions in levels of these biomarkers greater than 30 percent. The in vitro study of the fibroblasts showed a decrease in the production of HGF and VEGF as well.
The researchers concluded that the findings support a potential role for green tea "in the treatment or prevention of prostate cancer."
Reference:
McLarty J, Bigelow RL, Smith M, Elmajian D, Ankem M, Cardelli JA. Tea Polyphenols Decrease Serum Levels of Prostate-Specific Antigen, Hepatocyte Growth Factor, and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Prostate Cancer Patients and Inhibit Production of Hepatocyte Growth Factor and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor In vitro. Cancer Prev Res (Phila Pa). 2009 Jun 19. Published Online Ahead of Print.
Labels: antioxidants, green tea, prostate cancer, study
Jonny Bowden, PhD, C.N.S. is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health and is the author of several best-selling books.
I'm always glad to hear when to tea gets good press, particularly when it's given a definite usage in the healing and preventing of a disease. More often than not doctors choose their words very, very wisely so as not to make an isolated compound - in this case EGCG - seem like a miracle cure, and that's understandable, but it can leave a question mark hanging over the product in question, thus leading to doubt in the would-be consumer.
Something for green tea lovers to try: I've been drinking a Japanese form of green tea these past two months called Matcha. It's made from a leaf known as Tencha, or Gyokoru. What sets this particular type of green tea apart from most others is a few things. The first is that it's shade grown for the last 3 weeks of it's growth to enable it to produce more aroma compounds. This shade growing also makes the plant fight harder to photosynthesize, thus producing more of the good stuff that green tea has! The second is that it's powdered, which means you're drinking the entire leaf, not just a liquid derived from the leaf. And lastly, in Japan they steam tea to stop it from oxidizing, whereas in China or other green tea producing countries they nearly always roast it.
I can't say enough good things about this stuff. It's well worth a try.
Dav
I'm always encouraging my clients to drink a ton of green tea. I love it myself and appreciate more reasons to drink it :)
http://www.fitnessnomadblog.com
Green tea has some elements known as catechins which greatly help to prevent and reduce recurrence of breast and other cancers. I came across this while I was reading about anti-cancer foods in caring.com. The article talks about anti-cancer super foods and the way they work Caring.com/greentea .A great read from a good site.
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