Green Tea May Prevent Prostate Cancer
According to researchers, it has been recently found that polyphenon E, a polyphenol that is present in green tea, plays a significant role in slowing down the development of prostate cancer. In fact, polyphenon E significantly reduces cancer progression’s bio-markers, which include Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). This has been well-supported by the latest edition of the Cancer Prevention Research. As a result of this new discovery, researchers concluded that polyphenon E is crucial for the treatment as well as prevention of prostate cancer and thus consuming green tea can be very beneficial for the purpose.
Some of the previous studies stated that green tea is related to reduce incidents of prostate cancer and the polyphenols present in it is being regarded as a useful cancer therapy source. But this fact is still inconclusive. In the year 2008, FDA said that because people usually consume green tea in very small quantities, the evidences about benefits of green tea are uncertain. After this statement from the FDA, researchers started conducting a single arm, open label phase II trial for determining the effect of active compounds present in green tea on the serum bio-markers of prostate cancer patients, if consumed in small quantities. The biomarkers involved are prostate specific antigen or PSA, hepatocyte growth factor or HGF and vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF.
During the experiment, 26 prostate cancer patients age between 41 to 68 years underwent radical prostatectomy. The patients were asked to take four capsules of Polyphenon E daily until the date of their surgery arrived. Researchers said that 4 capsules are almost equivalent to 12 cups green tea. As a result, researchers found significant decrease in the levels of serum for all the 3 biomarkers. It was noted that 10 out of 25 patients received more than 25% decrease in their HGF levels and 6 out of 25 patients received more than 25% reduction in their levels of VEGF.
Researcher explained that ECCG which is a major catechin in polyphenon E that present in green tea is able to rapidly block the production of HGF. EGCG is also responsible for blocking VEGF production that plays a crucial role in cancer associated fibro-blasts. It was also found that time on medicines, race and age did not significant effects on changes in the serum bio-markers.
It is stated in some studies that, if taken in high doses, EGCG may even adversely affect the functioning of the liver, but according to this study, all the markers of dysfunction of liver have significantly decreased, especially total protein, alkaline phosphatase, amylase, albumin and aspartate aminotransferase. This proved that the doses used in the study are safe said Dr. Cardelli.
Since the result was obtained with concentrated active ingredients, Dr Cardelli also raised the question whether this can be translated into drinking 12 cup of green daily. Although the data from the study support the role of green in prostate cancer treatment and prevention, the effects of long-term administration, different doses and mixing with other medicines still need to be seen.