Green Tea May Prevent Oral Cancer- says a study.

The green tea is already known for its intensified health benefits but Sixth International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention added a new feather to its cap. The scientists acknowledged that green tea may prevent oral cancer in big way. The scientists found that green tea was laced with an antioxidant - polyphenol called Polyphenon E, which limits the growth of cancerous tumors. The scientists reached this decision after observing 41 pre-malignant volunteers, who were administered to the green tea extract for three months. These volunteers were served doses of 500 mg/m2 , 750 mg/m2 or 1,000 mg/m2 and were asked to sip green tea orally. Whereas another set of participants were placed on placebo.

After the span of 28 months it was observed that the 59% of the volunteers who were administered higher doses of green tea showed improvement compared to 18% who were administered placebo.  The experts also identified some biomarkers which could lead a great way in identifying the development phases of cancerous cells and also prevent oral cancer.

The scientists identified that volunteers who were administered doses of green tea extracts and others who were administered placebo, both withstood the risk of contracting oral cancer. But the volunteers who exhibited mild to moderate dysplasia or anomalous cell growth in the beginning of study could evade oral cancer for long time.

The studies were conducted under the supervision of Dr. Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulo, who is a professor in the department of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center concluded that these findings were encouraging enough to say that green tea may prevent oral cancer but it was not substantial enough to prove the point.  Dr. Papadimitrakopoulo also added that this is a phase 2 study, which was conducted on very limited volunteers and they were given amount of green tea about the size of 8-10 cups. He also concluded that such confined researches are not enough to say that green tea may prevent oral cancer, but it surely indicates that the green tea may help in cancer treatment.  Dr. Papadimitrakopoulo also added that "More research, including studies in which individuals at high risk are exposed to these supplements for longer time periods, is still needed to answer that sort of question."

Another set of scientists could also identify that Asians had lower rates of cardiovascular disease, and other forms of cancer because they consumed green tea in large amounts. The scientists have termed this phenomenon the “Asian Paradox”.  It was found that the volunteers who drank at least 5 cups of green tea could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by 26 % compared to the volunteers who drank just 1 cup of green tea per day. The study concluded that green tea not only prevent oral cancer by slowing down the growth of tumorous growth but can aid in increasing the life expectancy worldwide by striking down the rates of cellular disease and other degenerative diseases. 

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