Puzzled about green tea info

redheadace1

A friend of mine who had a lumpectomy a few months ago (benign) and went to see the surgeon about her followup mammogram was told to avoid soy and green tea, but I keep reading that green tea is good for breast cancer and its prevention. Any idea why he might have told her to avoid it?

SuzyWillKickThis

I don't know! I was told it was great for beating cancer and have been knocking it back like nobody's business!

I hope someone will come along and tell us more!

saluki

I'm just guessing that if she did not have cancer she was probably told to avoid the green tea because of the caffeine which can promote benign breast lumps and a higher incidence of fibrocystic breast disease.

Green tea does contain less caffeine than coffee and a little less than oolong tea, but they'd rather you avoid all caffeine.

AccidentalTourist

There are a number of conflicting advice about food and drink and no wonder we are all confused.  Soy and dairy are also either recommended or banned and it is difficult to be certain who is right.  Jane Plant in her book 'Your life in your hands' propagates use of soya as it is meant to be milder than human or synthetic estrogen and it is supposedly better if it stops the more harmful estradiol binding with the receptors.  Others think that this is nonsense and any estrogen is bad for you.  Equally dairy products are meant to be bad because they contain both natural and man made growth hormones but Johanna Budwig in her protocol swears by flax seed with cottage cheese (that is the closest equivalent to German cheese she recommends) for beating and preventing cancer.  Flax seed itself is both recommended and banned (on account that itself has plant estrogens).  I have heard about green tea controversy as well but am not sure why.  I can only go by the fact that Japanese who consume a lot of soy and green tea have much lower incidence of breast cancer and live longer if they do get it.  They are also the longest living in general.    Surely if soy and green tea are bad for you that would not be the case.  Not scientific I know but it is good enough for me.

paige-allyson

The green tea warning is puzzling, Maybe he was confused. The compounds in green tea have been shown to interfere with tumors ability to form new blood vessels ( a process called angiogenesis). Soy is a different story- its safety for women diagnosed with breast cancer is controversial. Search green tea and breast cancer on Google- you'll find tons of info, including info from reliable sources, on why it's beneficial.

pinoideae

I drink green tea everyday.  So I googled avoid green tea, and surprisingly found some interactions with green tea.  I had no idea. 

Possible Interactions

If you are currently being treated with any of the following medications, you should not drink green tea or take green tea extract without first talking to your doctor:

Adenosine. Green tea may inhibit the actions of adenosine, a medication administered in a hospital setting for an irregular (and usually unstable) heart rhythm.

Antibiotics, beta-lactam. Green tea may increase the effectiveness of beta-lactam antibiotics by reducing bacterial resistance to treatment.

Aspirin . Green tea and aspirin should not be mixed because they both prevent platelets from clotting. Using the two together may increase your risk of bleeding.

Benzodiazepines. Caffeine (including caffeine from green tea) has been shown to reduce the sedative effects of benzodiazepines (medications commonly used to treat anxiety, such as diazepam and lorazepam).

Beta-blockers, propranolol and metoprolol. Caffeine (including caffeine from green tea) may increase blood pressure in people taking propranolol and metoprolol (medications used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease).

Blood Thinning Medications . People who take warfarin, a blood thinning medication, should not drink green tea. Since green tea contains vitamin K, it can make warfarin ineffective. (See also the aspirin listing, above.)

Chemotherapy. The combination of green tea and chemotherapy medications, specifically doxorubicin and tamoxifen, increased the effectiveness of these medications in laboratory tests. However, these results have not yet been demonstrated in studies on people. On the other hand, there have been reports of both green and black tea extracts stimulating a gene in prostate cancer cells that may cause them to be less sensitive to chemotherapy drugs. Given this potential interaction, people should not drink black and green tea (as well as extracts of these teas) while receiving chemotherapy for prostate cancer in particular.

Clozapine. The anti-psychotic effects of the medication clozapine may be reduced if taken less than 40 minutes after drinking green tea.

Ephedrine. When taken together with ephedrine, green tea may cause agitation, tremors, insomnia, and weight loss.

Lithium. Green tea has been shown to reduce blood levels of lithium (a medication used to treat manic/depression).

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) . Green tea may cause a severe increase in blood pressure (called a "hypertensive crisis") when taken together with MAOIs used to treat depression. Examples of MAOIs include phenelzine and tranylcypromine.

Oral contraceptives. Oral contraceptives can prolong the amount of time caffeine stays in the body and may increase its stimulating effects.

Phenylpropanolamine. A combination of caffeine (including caffeine from green tea) and phenylpropanolamine (an ingredient used in many over-the-counter and prescription cough and cold medications and weight loss products) can cause mania and a severe increase in blood pressure. The FDA issued a public health advisory in November 2000 to warn people of the risk of bleeding in the brain from use of this medication and has strongly urged all manufacturers of this drug to remove it from the market.

katymom

I was told by my oncologist to avoid green tea completely.....not sure if he meant just during chemo....I will have to ask to see if I can add it back now....