Green tea is often touted as a miracle beverage, able to bestow great health – but a new study says it cannot protect against breast cancer.
The Japanese finding will disappoint proponents of the tea – which laboratory studies had suggest might beat breast cancer.
Researchers studied more than 54,000 women – with more than 27 per cent drinking more than five cups of green tea a day.
Just 12 per cent of the women drank less than one cup a week.
In spite of the large number of women drinking green tea, the researchers found no evidence it reduced the risk of breast cancer.
The researchers tracked the women for five years for the study, reported in the journal Breast Cancer Research.
Researcher Motoki Iwasaki, from the National Cancer Center, Tokyo, said: "Our large-scale, population-based prospective cohort study is one of the first to include a wide range of tea intakes; women who drank green tea less than 1 cup per week to those who drank 10 or more cups per day.
"It found no overall association between green tea intake and the risk of breast cancer."
Green tea drinking and subsequent risk of breast cancer in a population-based cohort of Japanese women. Motoki Iwasaki, Manami Inoue, Shizuka Sasazuki, Norie Sawada, Taiki Yamaji, Taichi Shimazu, Walter C Willett, Shoichiro Tsugane and for the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study Group. Breast Cancer Research (in press)
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