Tea and Cancer

Research in Japan is shedding light on green tea's role in preventing some forms of cancer. “We have found that people in tea-producing regions have a lower death rate from cancer,” says Itaro Oguni, a professor of food science at the Univesity of Shizuoka, Hamamatsu College.

Specifically, Oguni's research has uncovered a significantly lower rate of cancer deaths in Shizuoka Prefecture, located southwest of Tokyo. The area produces 40,000 tons of tea a year, about half of Japan's total output.

Another study, conducted jointly by Oguni's research team and China's national cancer center in Beijing, examined the effect of green tea extract on mice that had been fed a carcinogen. Oguni says the cancer rate for mice that had consumed the extract was about half that for mice that had no extract. Scientists believe that a polyphenol known as catechin, which is found in black and green tea, helps the human body ward off cancer. So how much tea must people drink to absorb an effective amount of catechin? Oguni calculates that to consume the same amount of catechin as folks in Nakakawane, tea drinkers need to have 10 cups, or about 2 1/2 pints, of green tea every day.