Green Tea and Prostate Cancer

Green tea has many health benefits, including the potential to reduce cancer incidence. A study in Japan found green tea drinking to be associated with a decreased risk of advanced prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is much less common among Asian men than Western men, and that may be partly due to the effects of the high consumption of green tea in Asia. It may also have to do a lot with the overall differences in diet between Asians and Americans.

Tea, coffee and prostate cancer.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2009; Lee AH, Fraser ML, Binns CW. School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA, Australia.
Worldwide, prostate cancer has the second highest incidence of all cancers in males with incidence and mortality being much higher in affluent developed countries. Risk and progression of the disease may be linked to both genetic and environmental factors, especially dietary factors. Tea and coffee are two of the most popular beverages in the world and have been investigated for possible effects on health outcomes, including prostate cancer. The evidence for a relationship between coffee or tea consumption and prostate cancer is reviewed in this paper. While current evidence indicates that coffee is a safe beverage, its consumption probably has little or no relationship with prostate cancer. Tea, especially green tea, has shown some potential in the prevention of prostate cancer. While evidence from epidemiologic studies is currently inconclusive, strong evidence has emerged from animal and in vitro studies. Although evidence on the relationship between coffee, tea and prostate cancer is not complete, we consider it strong enough to recommend tea as a healthier alternative to coffee.

Green tea and prostate cancer in Japan
Drinking green tea may reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer. Men who drank five or more cups a day had half the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer compared with those who drank less than one cup a day.

Green Tea Consumption and Prostate Cancer Risk in Japanese Men: A Prospective Study.
Am J Epidemiol. 2007. Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Center for Cancer Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan.
The incidence of prostate cancer is much lower in Asian than Western populations. Given that environmental factors such as dietary habits may play a major role in the causation of prostate cancer and the high consumption of green tea in Asian populations, this low incidence may be partly due to the effects of green tea. The JPHC Study (Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study) was established in 1990 for cohort I and in 1993 for cohort II. The subjects were 49,920 men aged 40-69 years who completed a questionnaire that included their green tea consumption habit at baseline and were followed until the end of 2004. During this time, 404 men were newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, of whom 114 had advanced cases, 271 were localized, and 19 were of an undetermined stage. Green tea was not associated with localized prostate cancer. However, consumption was associated with a dose-dependent decrease in the risk of advanced prostate cancer.

Review: Green tea polyphenols in chemoprevention of prostate cancer: preclinical and clinical studies.
Nutr Cancer. 2009. Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
The prevention of prostate cancer (PCa) is a crucial medical challenge in developed countries. PCa remains surrounded by puzzles in spite of the considerable progress in research, diagnosis, and treatment. It is an ideal target for chemoprevention, as clinically significant PCa usually requires more than two decades for development. Green tea and its major constituent epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been extensively studied as a potential treatment for a variety of diseases including cancer. In this review, we highlight the evidences of green tea polyphenols from preclinical and clinical studies in the chemoprevention/chemotherapy of PCa.