Can green tea cure cancer?
Green tea is made only from the leaves of the tea bush, which are subjected to minimal oxidation during processing.
Green tea originated in China 5,000 years ago and is believed to have many benefits for your health.
But it is also associated with many other Asian stalwarts, such as Japan and South Korea. In the last few years, green tea has become increasingly popular in Western Europe as well as in North America, and is about to replace the traditionally consumed black tea there.
Green tea is grown not only in Asia, but also in many other places around the world, so its taste can vary according to the different conditions under which the tea bush is grown.< /strong>
The team from the Mayo Clinic in the USA found that with the help of green tea, it can improve the condition of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
CLL is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow that affects white blood cells and is the most common form of leukemia with over 3,000 new cases, mostly over 60-year-olds diagnosed in the UK each year.
Green tea is believed to have cancer prevention capabilities. It is exciting that research may provide new hope for patients with this type of disease. This disease is called chronic leukemia because it progresses more slowly than acute leukemia. Some patients live for decades carrying this disease.
Since there is no known cure, doctors traditionally do not focus on the early stages of the disease to see how it will develop, but go straight to the traditional forms of cancer treatment – chemotherapy. p>
Mayo researchers did a test in 2004 that showed green tea could kill leukemia cells. Four CLL patients treated at the clinic were on green tablets containing an extract of tea, epigallocatechin gallate and antioxidant. This definitely improves their condition, which is another proof of the healthy properties of green tea.
Within a few months, doctors realized that three out of four patients showed signs of regression of the cancer. The fourth patient also showed a slight improvement, but it was not clinically significant.
Tate Shanafelt said, “The experience with these people leads to some speculation that our previously published laboratory findings may actually be used in patients with this disease.”
But he cautioned that more research is needed to prove these findings and check for side effects.
Ken Campbell, director of the Leukemia Research Fund, said: “The results are interesting, but we can’t say yet that this is a cancer treatment.”
Clinic researchers need larger-scale research as well as a controlled trial to see if the current findings can be confirmed and put into practice.
If this becomes a reality, this type of treatment could help many people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who live for many years undergoing excruciating chemotherapy with an uncertain outcome for the patient’s health.
