Green tea and colon polyps cancer prevention

Evidence for beneficial effects of green tea continues to grow. Experimental data suggests that green tea is helpful in chemoprevention. Studies in Japanese shows that people who drink greater than 10 cups were day have a decrease in risk of colon cancer.

A recent randomized controlled trial examined the effect of green tea on precancerous colon polyps (adenoma) in patients with history of polyps but cleared on subsequent colonoscopy.

The investigators (Dr. Shimizu and colleagues) used supplemental green tea extract tablets equivalent to increase green tea ingestion from an average of 6 cups (1.5 g green tea extract) daily to 10 cups equivalent (2.5 g green tea extract) by supplemental green tea extract tablets. The controls did not get any supplementation. Follow up colonoscopy was performed after 1 year.

At the end point colonoscopy, colon polyps (adenomas) were detected in 15% of the green tea extract group as compared to 31% in the controls. The size of the adenoma detected in the green tea extract group was also smaller than the ones in controls suggesting that even the polyps detected may have less potential for colorectal cancer.

Are you a fan of green tea or for that matter tea? If not, would news like this lead you to increase your intake of green tea?