UCLA study claims green and black tea halt the development of prostate cancer

• For the tea study, Susanne Henning, an associate researcher at the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA`s David Geffen School of Medicine, assigned 20 men, all scheduled for prostate removal due to cancer, to drink either black tea, green tea or soda, five cups a day for five days before surgery.
• The aim was to see if substances called polyphenols found in tea might slow prostate cancer cell growth.
• In Henning`s study, a piece of each man`s prostate was cut out during the surgery and given to a pathologist, who then turned it over to the researchers for evaluation.
• When they looked at the proliferation of prostate cancer cells in the sample of tissue removed, there was a decrease in how fast new cancer cells appeared for men who had consumed either black or green tea, The same was not found in those who drank the soda.
• "This is the first human study to show that EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate, a polyphenol in the tea) shows up in the prostate after drinking tea," said Henning, who presented her study April 18 at the Experimental Biology 2004 meeting in Washington, D.C. "Black tea is a bit better.
• The other study, presented at the same meeting, looked at the cancer-fighting ability of resveratrol, a dietary polyphenol, and did not produce the same promising results.
• For several years, resveratrol has been discussed as a natural way to protect against both cancer and heart disease.
• But it`s not known if dietary resveratrol will actually reach the proposed sites of action, said study author Thomas Walle, a professor of pharmacology at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
• Instead of focusing on single supplements or substances, Kattlove suggested boosting fruit and vegetable intake.