Green Tea and Breast Cancer

by Michael Greger, M.D.

In my new anti-cancer talk (Stopping Cancer Before It Starts: Cancer Proofing Your Body with Plant Superfoods), I encourage everyone to drink green tea every day. Up until now, studies on Western populations have failed to show a protective role of tea consumption in preventing breast cancer. But we tend to drink mostly black tea.

Finally, just this last month, a study on green tea consumption and breast cancer (in Los Angeles County) was published, which suggested that women may be able to cut their risk of developing breast cancer in half by just drinking about a third of a cup of green tea every day![8]

Just try not to drink tea regularly with meals. Green tea (and black) can interfere with the absorption of the iron found in plant foods, so vegetarians and vegans should try to only drink tea between meals

REFERENCES

[8] Green Tea and the Risk of Breast Cancer in Asian Americans. International Journal of Cancer 106(August 2003):574.