Green tea may help prostate cancer cases

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Men with prostate cancer who consumed green tea prior to undergoing prostate removal had less inflammation, U.S. researchers say.

Susanne M. Henning, an adjunct professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said research she and her colleagues conducted offers new insights into the mechanisms by which green tea consumption may chance of getting prostate cancer by opposing processes such as inflammation, which are associated with prostate cancer growth.

Henning and colleagues examined potential mechanisms by which green tea may have had beneficial effects among 67 men with prostate cancer scheduled to have a prostatectomy.

The researchers randomly assigned the men to either six cups of brewed green tea or water daily for three to eight weeks, depending on the timing of their surgery.

They collected blood and urine samples before and after the green tea or water consumption and collected prostate tissue following the pathology exam.

The data showed serum prostate-specific antigen concentrations were significantly lower at the end of the study compared with baseline levels in men consuming green tea. In addition, prostate tissue PSA protein expression was lower in men assigned to green tea consumption compared with the control group at the end of the study.

The findings were presented at the annual American Association for Cancer Research International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research in Los Angeles.