Older women who regularly drunk green tea may have slightly lower risks of colon, stomach and throat cancers than women who don’t, according to a Canadian study that followed thousands of Chinese women over a decade.
The researchers, whose report appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that of the more than 69,000 women, those who drank green tea at least three times a week were 14 per cent less likely to develop a cancer of the digestive system.
The study adds to debate over the impact of green tea on cancer risks. Past studies have so far come to conflicting findings on whether green tea drinkers really do have lower cancer risks.
“In this large prospective cohort study, tea consumption was associated with reduced risk of colourectal and stomach/esophageal cancers in Chinese women,” wrote study leader Wei Zheng, who heads epidemiology at Vanderbilt University school of Medicine in Nashville, and his colleagues.
Nobody can say whether green tea itself is the reason, since green tea lovers are often more health-conscious in general.
But the study did try to account for that, Zheng said. None of the women smoked or drank alcohol regularly, and the researchers also collected information on their diets, exercise habits, weight and medical history.
Yet even with all these things factored in, women’s tea habits remained linked to their cancer risks, Zheng noted - even though this type of study cannot prove cause and effect.