Can Green Tea Help to Prevent or Reduce My Risk of Breast Cancer?

— -- Question: Can green tea help to prevent or reduce my risk of breast cancer?

Answer: The answer is we're really not sure. We know that green tea is part of the Asian diet, which is an overall healthy, low-fat diet. It does reduce the incidence of hormone-related cancers, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer. Of course, the incidence of stomach cancer and other cancers is higher in Asia than it is in America for example. There have been many studies of green tea, and it does seem to be protective in many of those investigations, protective of getting cancer in the first place. That is, green tea seems to reduce, in many studies, the risk of developing cancer, particularly breast cancer. Other studies show the opposite. However, that's a very different question from that of whether green tea has any effect after a diagnosis has been made. And to the best of anyone's knowledge, on the basis of the great deal of research that has been conducted, it does not seem to affect cancer once it has developed.

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