Researchers have found evidence to suggest that drinking green tea could hold back lung cancer growth.
And a second study suggests green vegetables and folate vitamins may also help protect smokers.
The green tea study was conducted in China.
"Our study may represent a clue that in the case of lung cancer, smoking-induced carcinogenesis could be modulated by green tea consumption and the growth factor environment," said I-Hsin Lin, of Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan.
Lin’s team compared 170 lung cancer patients and 340 healthy individuals who provided information on their smoking habits, green tea consumption, diet, and family history.
They were also tested for the insulin-like growth factors IGF1, IGF2 and IGFBP3, which stimulate cell growth and are known to be associated with cancer.
Non-tea drinkers were over five times more likely to develop lung cancer than those who drank one cup of green tea per day, regardless of smoking status. For smokers alone, the risk was nearly 13 times higher for those who did not drink green tea, compared with at least one cup per day.
Genetics may play a role, the team believe. They report that green tea drinkers with less harmful growth hormone patterns were 66 per cent less likely to develop lung cancer than tea drinkers with more harmful patterns.
"Tea, particularly green tea, has received a great deal of attention because tea polyphenols are strong antioxidants, and tea preparations have shown inhibitory activity against tumorigenesis," said Lin.
Results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer, held January 11-14, 2010.
A 2009 Cochrane Review on green tea for the prevention of cancer concluded: "There is insufficient and conflicting evidence to give any firm recommendations."
* A second study reported yesterday says there is evidence that leafy green vegetables can help protect against gene changes in smokers.
A recent study suggested a smoker experiences one gene mutation for every packet of cigarettes.
US researchers conducted a genetic analysis of samples from coughing – comparing their findings with smokers’ eating habits – for the study published in the journal Cancer Research.
Researcher Dr Steven Belinsky, of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, studied some 1,100 smokers and former smokers.
Findings presented at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer: Prospects for Personalized Prevention and Therapy, held January 11-14, 2010 in Coronado, California, USA.
Cancer Research on-line January 12 2010
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