Extracts from green tea may prevent the formation of mouth cancers in people with risk signs of the disease, according to a new study from Texas. Over 50 per cent of participants in the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center study experienced a clinical response to the green tea extracts.
“While still very early, and not definitive proof that green tea is an effective preventive agent, these results certainly encourage more study for patients at highest risk for oral cancer,” lead researcher Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD.
“The extract's lack of toxicity is attractive - in prevention trials, it's very important to remember that these are otherwise healthy individuals and we need to ensure that agents studied produce no harm,” he added. “We need to further understand if green tea offers longer-term prevention effects for patients.”
Almost 60 per cent of people taking the two highest doses of the green tea extracts had a clinical response. Just over 36 per cent of people in the lowest extract dose group had a clinical response, compared to 18 per cent in the placebo group, said the researchers.