(Coronado, California) - Drinking a glass or one more green tea day can neutralize the effect of smoking in lung cancer, especially in smokers that may not be genetically susceptible to cancer, according to a Taiwanese researcher.
'Antioxidants can inhibit tumor growth ", i-hsin lin, master's degree in Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan, says WebMD. She presented her discoveries today at the American Cancer Research Association - - International Association for Study of Coronado Lung Cancer Meeting, California.
Lin found the protective effect, especially evident in a group of smokers who studied that they have specific genotypes that have not been linked to risk of cancer in some studies.
Lin's Team evaluated 170 patients with lung cancer and 340 healthy patients. They asked the participants to describe their habits of smoking, habits of drinking green tea and other lifestyle factors .
they asked participants to describe habits for pre-day five years, says Lin.
The researchers performed genotyping in the participants to see if they had any of the genotypes found in some studies The are associated with cancer risk. These include IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), IGF2 and IGFBP3.
Fat Loss Green Tea Benefits - Green Tea May Cut Smokers' Lung Cancer Risk
Overall, smokers and non-smokers who did not drink green tea had a more than five-fold higher risk of lung cancer compared to those who had at least one cup of green tea, found.
Among smokers, non-green drinkers had almost 13 times a higher risk of lung cancer compared to smokers who drank a glass or more green tea per day.
Even more dramatic was the protective green tea effect in those who did not have the genotypes susceptible to lung cancer, the researchers discovered.
Green tea drinkers who did not have a genotype named by researchers as susceptible were 66% reduced risk in lung cancer compared to green tea drinkers who were susceptible.
Those who smoke heavily and had the susceptible genotype had even greater risk.
While lin says the best way to avoid lung cancer is to quit smoking, green tea seems to reduce risk. "Green tea can protect them from the risk of lung cancer, a cup or more a day," she says.
About 23% of US adults still smoke cigarettes, according to CDC.
Nathan Pennell, MD, PhD, doctor at the Taussig Cancer Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, expressed caution in the discoveries.
It notes that "only seven smokers had one or more cups of green tea per day." This means that most did not drink a cup or never drank.
'' Certainly no one has shown a definitive association between drinking green tea and lung cancer, "he says the WebMD. And some antioxidants have no preventive cancer.
