Cancer Fighting Benefits of Green Tea

        In the past ten years the cancer-fighting benefits of green tea have been extensively studied. The evidence has been so positive that the National Cancer Institute plans to conduct human trials. Currently, tea compounds are being developed for trial use as cancer-preventive agents. (1)

        It’s very possible new cancer treatments will result from those trials. Meanwhile, nothing could be easier than adding green tea to your diet. Let’s take a look at some interesting green tea health benefits…

        To start with, cancer rates are lower in countries where green tea is regularly consumed. (2) Green tea is especially rich in flavonoids – about 30% by dry weight. This includes an active group of compounds called catechins, which give green tea its cancer-fighting power. (3, 4)

         And the fascinating thing is, the antioxidant compounds in green tea work against cancer in several different ways…

A Cancer Terminator…

        At the genetic level, the benefits of green tea occur when it causes cancer cells to starve themselves.

        By nature, cancer cells have an endless appetite and are constantly trying to divide and spread. They do this by developing their own blood vessels that feed them. Green tea has been shown to inhibit that process. (5)

        The catechin known as ECGC, which is five times higher in green tea than black tea, blocks an enzyme that cancer cells need to grow. Which means it works exactly like anti-cancer drugs that are formulated to do the very same thing. (6)

        At the same time, other catechins in green tea attack the cancer cells directly, causing so much damage that the cells are forced to self-destruct. Amazingly, this happens only in the cancer cells, not in normal ones. (7)

        Another activity of the green tea compounds is that they aid in detoxifying carcinogens. They cause an increase in detoxification enzymes in the body and make them more active. (8)