Green tea may cut thyroid cancer risk in postmenopausal women
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By David Liu, Ph.D. and editing by Denise Reynolds
A study led by Japanese scientists suggests drinking green tea may reduce risk of thyroid cancer in postmenopausal women.
The study showed that postmenopausal women who drank five or more cups of green tea a day were 53 percent less likely to be diagnosed with thyroid cancer, compared with those who drank one or less than one cup a day.
For the study, Takehiro Michikawa of Keio University in Japan and colleagues analyzed data on green tea and coffee consumption collected through a self-administered questionnaire from 48,802 men and 51,705 women aged 40 to 69. During 14.2 years of follow-up, 26 men and 133 women were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Although the association between drinking green tea and reduced risk of thyroid was found in postmenopausal women, there was no association found in the general population. And in premenopausal women, drinking five or more cups of green tea a day was actually correlated with 66 percent increased risk, compared with those drinking one or less than one cup a day.
Coffee consumption was not linked with thyroid cancer risk in neither men nor women.
The study was published online on May 12, 2011 in Cancer Causes Control.
Green tea components such as Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) promote apoptosis, programmed cell deaths that lack in cancerous cells, according to cancer researchers C.S. Yang and colleagues at Rutgers University.
Thyroid cancer is a malignant tumor that grows in the thyroid gland, which makes hormones that regulate blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, and body weight.
Thyroid cancer was estimated to hit 44,670 men and women in the United States in 2010 and the disease killed 1,690 in the same year, according to the National Cancer Institute.
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