Author: Belinda
Editors: Galiba Anjum and Aurora Chen
Artist: Kaitlyn Stanton
Green tea has been studied extensively as a potential cancer chemopreventive agent. It is one of the most consumed beverages around the world. Green tea extracts have been proven to prevent cancerous properties in carcinogens, a form of cancer. Breast cancer risk can be decreased with both chemical and physical properties in green tea. There are many reasons for drinking Green tea such as boosting immunity to fight off cancer, as green tea contains Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which helps protect your immune system. Another reason includes getting rid of toxins found in the body, as it helps with digestion and nutrient intake.
EGCG is a component in green tea that is associated with many health benefits found in green tea. It acts as a potent antioxidant that may protect against cellular damage, and it is accounted for 50-75 of catechins, which are phenols found in green tea chemicals. EGCG has also been known as the most effective constituent of green tea, which makes it a beneficial factor in breast cancer risk. It also showed an enhancement in chemotherapeutic-induced cellular apoptosis through HepG2 cells by targeting the DNL pathway. A study found that EGCG used for treating mice with tumors showed a decrease of 33-40 percent tumor volume decrease along with a decrease of the tumor weight by 22.1-35.1 percent. Multiple studies have also been done on cellular studies where polyphenols, found in green tea, can inhibit carcinogenesis in a spectrum of cancers.
The increase in consumption of green tea has been largely associated with a great impact on breast cancer reduction. As confirmed by two studies, drinking green tea allows for a delay in breast cancer growth, and confirmed that drinking green tea regularly allows for a 12% decrease in risk when a person drinks cups of green tea per day rather than a person that does not have green tea in their diet. Not only in cups but also the amount of dry leaves counted towards. For instance, if someone drank a bag of tea in one month, they would have a greater decrease in breast cancer risk than someone who only took a few leaves in a month. 3 cups of green tea a day will decrease breast cancer risk significantly. As another study determined that a group of females that drank 10 cups was tested with more preventative effects of breast cancer than those who did not drink as much tea. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the quantity of tea drunk is also taken into consideration when determining breast cancer risk effects.
Not only is Green tea one of the most popular beverages in the world, but it also has many health benefits, such as reducing breast cancer risk.
Citations:
Li, Min-Jing, et al. “Green Tea Compounds in Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment.”
World Journal of Clinical Oncology, Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 10 Aug. 2014,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127621/.
“Green Tea.” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, www.mskcc.org/cancer-
care/integrative-medicine/herbs/green-tea.
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