Green Tea Lowers Risk of Hematologic Cancers

SENDAI, Japan—Green tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of hematologic malignancies, types of cancer that affect blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes, according to a study in American Journal of Epidemiology (2009). Authors used data from the Ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study in Japan to evaluate the association between green tea consumption and the risk of hematologic malignancies. A total of 41,761 Japanese adults, aged 40 to 79 years, without a history of cancer at baseline participated. During nine years of follow-up beginning in 1995, the authors documented 157 hematologic malignancies, including 119 cases of lymphoid neoplasms and 36 cases of myeloid neoplasms. Risk of hematologic malignancies was inversely associated with green tea consumption. The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio of hematologic malignancies for 5 cups/d or more compared with less than 1 cup/d of green tea was 0.58. The corresponding risk estimate was 0.52 for lymphoid neoplasms and 0.76 for myeloid neoplasms. This inverse association was consistent across sex and body mass index strata.