Green Tea Research
Green tea has been shown to have prostate cancer fighting properties.
When researchers from Louisiana State University tested 26 prostate cancer patients they found that proteins that cause tumors to grow were lowered when patients used green tea extracts.
The extracts, called polyphenols, were delivered via capsules, made by Polyphenon Pharma.
Each capsule called Pollyphenon E, contained green tea extract EGCG. Four capsules taken a day were the equivalent of drinking a dozen cups of green tea. The study participants who all had prostate cancer, ranged in age from 41 to 68. After taking four Polyphenon E capsules a day for about a month, they had their prostates removed.
Among the tumors, blood tests showed that proteins that encourage the growth of prostate cancer fell. The antigen PSA fell by 10.4 percent. The findings are published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
Two of the proteins, HGF and VEGF were reduced by more than 30 percent.
"It's still in an early stage. Green tea can keep cancer from growing very fast, but it may not be able to shrink tumors," Cardelli said in a telephone interview to Reuters.
"But it can be a good addition to traditional therapies, like chemo (chemotherapy) or radiation."
Additional randomized studies may follow this research. And working with Columbia University in New York, the researchers are conducting a comparable trial with breast cancer patients.
There were no other side effects from the green tea extract as might be seen in the liver. Prostate cancer is predicted to kill more than 27,000 U.S. men in 2009. It is the second leading cause of cancer death after skin cancer. #