FoodFacts.com is always looking for information regarding the health benefits of green tea. There has always been conjecture about this tea boasting many, varied health properties gained from including it in your beverage consumption. It’s been heralded in different cultures and has fascinated people for years.

Recent research has pointed to these benefits and recently we’ve blogged about a few of them. It seems, though, that newer research is actually shedding light on how specific elements in green tea might, in fact, be involved in preventing the spread of both breast and prostate cancer!

The new research was focused on 40 women with a form of breast cancer that’s unaffected by hormone therapy. Coming out of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, the researchers gave the participants green tea extract in various amounts and a placebo. Those women consuming the green tea extract exhibited much lower levels of tumor growth than those given the placebo just two months into the study.

Green tea contains polyphenols. These chemicals are thought to have caused the slowing of the growth of the cancer in the women studied, specifically by hindering two proteins that support cancer cell growth and movement in the body. The study has tried to identify how much green tea extract, and/or cups of green tea would be needed to achieve the strongest effects. More research will be required to pinpoint the optimal level.

This research was based on a 2009 study on 26 men with prostate cancer, which showed comparable results in the slowing of cancer growth and migration. There’s another study that’s been released out of the University of California that’s even more recent that followed 67 men with prostate cancer who were about to have their prostate removed. Prior to having the procedure done, the men were instructed to drink six cups of brewed greed tea or water each day on a random basis. The men who drank six cups of green tea had lower levels of PSAs (prostate specific antigens). PSA levels are associated with prostate tumor growth.

It’s interesting to note that Japan, whose citizens consider green tea a steady and regular part of their diets, has a prostate and breast cancer rate that’s just about three times lower than the United States.

While we understand that these findings cannot yet be considered conclusive and that further research will be necessary, FoodFacts.com is certainly encouraged and looks forward to learning more about how green tea might be used in the future to help slow cancer growth and maybe even lend some hope to cancer prevention.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/19/green-tea-anti-cancer-secrets-revealed/#ixzz2A4hXKjCV