New cancer research: a storm in a (green) tea cup?

Aug. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- In this latest research scientists at the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow found that a chemical found in green tea has been used to successfully treat two types of skin cancer and that it had no side-effects on other cells or tissue.  The extract, known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGC) when applied to cancerous cells in laboratory tests it shrank or removed two-thirds of tumours it was used on within one month.

These are powerful claims but how do they relate to previous studies?  Tea Cargo (www.teacargo.co.uk) has an extensive data base on health benefits for all sorts of tea; not only green tea but also other teas such as Puerh and Oolong which have been used medicinally for hundreds of years in China and even good old black tea that some of us in the West rely on to get us up in the morning and keep us going during the day.

Five of these studies refer specifically to green tea, three based on laboratory findings and two on human studies.

The first study was undertaken by the (US) National Center for Toxicological Research (Arkansas) and was assessed by Tea Cargo’s expert as `good laboratory science based on cells in a dish’.  The second, from the University of Wisconsin  is high quality `pre-clinical' data using cells in a dish and then mice (but not humans) while the third was from Kyushu University and described as `laboratory evidence; OK as far as it goes’.  However he did point out that even a study like the one from Kyushu which does create headlines does add to the sum total of human knowledge.

Of more immediate interest are the two `human studies. The University of Parma in Italy has carried out `phase one' study on 60 humans which is rated as `high grade research’ which produced strong evidence of the effectiveness of green tea. Similarly Curtin University in Western Australia has published a small `case control' study showing encouraging results from solid research on humans.

Where does this leave us? The prevailing view among experts in the field is that the laboratory and mouse studies are encouraging but it will probably be some time before anything absolutely conclusive emerges.  In the meantime it is abundantly clear that there are no negative side effects from green tea and that high quality organic green tea from www.teacargo.co.uk not only tastes good but also does you good.

* http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/08/22/tea-extract-ca...