Tea drinking and ovarian cancer

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Women who drink an average of two or more cups of tea per day might

be 46% less likely to develop ovarian cancer than women who do not

drink tea, according to a study published in the Dec. 12/26 issue of

the Archives of Internal Medicine, the AP/ News reports. The

research cites " tantalizing but far-from-conclusive evidence " showing

that tea might prevent the development of ovarian cancer (Tanner,

AP/ News, 12/13). Researchers Susanna Larsson and Alicja Wolk

of the National Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska

Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, asked 61,057 women ages 40 to 76 from

central Sweden to record how often they consumed 67 different food

and drink items (Fleming, Daily Telegraph, 12/13). The women

completed the questionnaires between 1987 and 1990 and were followed

until December 2004 by researchers, who measured the women's

incidence of cancer. Of the participants in the study, 301 were

diagnosed with ovarian cancer. About 68% of the participants reported

drinking tea -- mainly black tea -- at least once a month. Larsson

and Wolk found that compared with women who did not drink tea, women

who drank less than one cup of tea daily were 18% less likely to

develop ovarian cancer, women who drank one cup daily were 24% less

likely to develop the cancer and women who drank two or more cups

daily were 46% less likely (BBC News, 12/13). " Each additional cup of

tea per day was associated with an 18% lower risk of ovarian cancer, "

the study says (Reuters, 12/13). Larsson said they found no link

between coffee consumption and risk of ovarian cancer (BBC News,

12/13). Both black and green teas are believed to contain

antioxidants that help prevent cell mutation that develops into

cancer (Reuters, 12/13).

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" Because prospective data on this relationship are scarce, our

findings need confirmation by future studies, " the researchers

concluded (Hawkes, Times, 12/13). However, if these results are

accurate, " they'd be important because ovarian cancer is the fourth-

leading cause of cancer death in women, " Marji McCullough, a

nutritional epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society, said

(AP/ News, 12/13). " The risk for ovarian cancer is strongly

related to hormonal factors, " Tim Key, professor of epidemiology at

Cancer Research UK, said, adding, " As yet there is no clear evidence

that diet affects the risk for this cancer, and although these new

results sound interesting, they do not provide firm evidence that tea

drinking has any effect on the risk for ovarian cancer " (BBC News,

12/13).

 

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