Tea linked to reduced ovarian cancer risk

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Women who drink at least two cups of tea a day seem to run a reduced risk of ovarian cancer compared to those who don't drink tea.
Various lab studies have shown anti-cancer benefits from drinking green and black tea. But there has been little research in humans. Now a team at the Karolinska Intitute, Stockholm, Sweden, reveals that there is a link between tea drinking and redcued ovarian cancer risk.

They studied a group of over 61,000 women who answered a food frequency questionnaire. Sixty eight per cent reported drinking tea - mainly black tea - at least once a month. During a follow up period of 15 years, there were 301 cases of ovarian cancer. The researchers observed a 46 per cent reduced risk of ovarian cancer among women drinking two or more cups of tea per day. Each additional cup of tea per day reduced the risk by 18 per cent. Coffee, however, did not reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, so presumably caffeine is not the protective factor. It is more likely that there is an antioxidant component - or components - in the tea leaf which is protective against cancer.

Source
Archives of Internal Medicine December 12/26 Volume 165 pages 2683-2686