Photo by Arseniy Kapran on Unsplash
The incidence of prostate cancer is much lower in Asian than in Western populations. One factor may be green tea consumption. Research appearing in the American Journal of Epidemiology (January 1, 2008; 167: 71 – 77) looked at 49,920 Japanese men over the course of 14 years. The men filled out questionnaires at the beginning of the study. During the course of the study, 404 cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed. There were 114 had advanced cases, 271 were localized, and 19 were of an undetermined stage. There was no association between drinking green tea and localized prostate cancer risk. Drinking green tea was, however, associated with a lower incidence of advanced prostate cancer. The relationship appeared to be dose-dependent; the more green tea consumed—the lower the risk. Drinking five or more cups of green tea was associated with a 48% reduction in risk for developing advanced prostate cancer.
