Mushroom/Green Tea Lower Risk of bc

FloridaLady

Green tea, mushrooms lower breast cancer risk Study aims to uncover why rate of the disease is lower in Chinese women Reuters updated 3:42 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 13, 2009

NEW YORK - Women who get plenty of mushrooms and green tea in their diets may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, new study findings suggest.

The study, of more than 2,000 Chinese women, found that the more fresh and dried mushrooms the women ate, the lower was their breast cancer risk.

The risk was lower still among those who also drank green tea every day.

It's known that the rate of breast cancer in China is four- to five- times lower than rates typically seen in developed countries - though the rate has been climbing over the past few decades in the most affluent parts of China.

The current findings suggest that traditional diets - and specifically, large quantities of mushrooms and green tea - may help explain China's lower breast cancer incidence, according to lead researcher Dr. Min Zhang, of the University of Western Australia in Perth.

She and her colleagues report the findings in the International Journal of Cancer.

The study was conducted in southeast China and involved 1,009 breast cancer patients between the ages of 20 and 87, and an equal number of healthy women the same age. All completed a detailed dietary questionnaire that asked them how often they ate specific foods.

Overall, Zhang's team found, women who ate the most fresh mushrooms  - 10 grams or more per day - were about two thirds less likely to develop breast cancer than non-consumers of mushrooms. Meanwhile, women who ate 4 grams or more of dried mushrooms per day had half the cancer risk of non-consumers.

Finally, mushroom eaters who also drank green tea everyday had only 11 to 18 percent of the breast cancer risk of women who consumed neither.

The study does not prove cause-and-effect, the researchers point out.

They did account for several kinds of risk factors for breast cancer - such as the women's weight, education level, and exercise frequency and smoking habits - but there could be other factors that explain the findings.

This is also the first study linking high dietary amounts of mushrooms and green tea to lower breast cancer risk, Zhang told Reuters Health.

Therefore, she said, it's too early for women to assume that the foods will help them avoid the cancer.

Still, it is biologically plausible, the researchers point out.

Lab research has shown that mushroom extracts have anti-tumor properties and, in animals, can stimulate the immune system's cancer defenses. For its part, green tea contains antioxidant compounds called polyphenols that have been shown to fight breast tumors in animals.

AnneN

There was a story in our local newspaper that mentioned a guy who eats dark chocolate made with green tea extract every day because his cancer's been stable since he started doing that.

Does anybody know what this product might be that combines dark chocolate with green tea extract? I am wondering what it's called and where I might find it.

Both green tea and dark chocolate are anticancer foods that David Servan-Schreiber recommends in his book Anticancer: A New Way of Life. If I could find them both in one product that'd be awesome.

pip57

I drink a lot of green tea every day.  I quite enjoy it.  But...if you can add it to dark chocolate...mmmm!

Rosemary44

There is so much good news about eating dark chocolate out there, I figured we were pretty darn safe with having some.  Then some killjoy came along with research saying chocolate keeps us from absorbing calcium.  Now I'm the killjoy for spreading those lies around.  There it is anyway.  Sorry.

Yazmin

Killjoy?  You, Rosemary44?? I don't think so...... If dark chocolate keeps us from absorbing calcium, well, we can get like extra-extra-extra calcium from so many other sources (unfortunatelaly not from delicious yogurt, because dairy products are estrogenic.....AAAAAH..... Are we EVER going to get a piece of good news without getting a piece of bad news at the same time?).

pip57

Do you think that the Chinese and Japanese women that they are following eat chocolate?  I am going to believe that they do and that this is good news for me!!

crazy4carrots

The concern about dark chocolate and calcium absorption seems to be the fact that cocoa contains oxalates, which inhibit absorption.

But I've read that the small amount in cocoa is not a problem.  Greens such as spinach and chard contain high amounts of oxalates, as do strawberries and many nuts. Since those foods have other significant benefits, perhaps the secret is to not consume them at the same time we take our calcium supplements or with other foods high in calcium?

I promise not to drink milk with my Lindt dark chocolate 

pip57

Who doesn't love Lindt dark chocolate?  Anyone?

lexislove

I love dark chocolate. It took a little bit to get use to the taste but now I love it. I usually buy the 85% cocoa chocolate. Sometimes I break up a bar and throw it in my oatmeal cookies. Yum!

Rosemary44

Anne,

Why would you want to find a product that has both tea and chocolate together?  Dark chocolate is just marvelous.  Savoring a piece of that wonderful stuff, I don't even think it has calories, if anyone tells you differently, they're more lies!   Where was I?  Oh, a nice piece with all that flavor, taking the fast track to our brains telling us everything is beautiful, and you want it mixed with tea?  Explain yourself!

If anyone is interested, they sell organic dark without soy products at vital choices. com. 

AnneN

Oh, Rosemary44, before cancer I used to eat whatever the heck I felt like eating. I never thought much about food; I just sort of did drive-by (and drive-thru) eating. Now I take 8 pills a day (at least I do when I remember all my calciums), and there are so many junk foods I cannot have any more, and so many cancer-fighting foods I have to remember to eat more of. I just get weary of thinking about it, that's all.

I like green tea. And I like dark chocolate. But that's two things. 

If I could get two for one, that'd be one less food to think about.

Rosemary44

Anne,

I know what you mean about having one less thing to eat.  I got an entire food regimen I'm doing.  Actually, I look forward to waking up so I can make myself some green tea.  That in itself is special project.  The water temp has to be just right, etc.  Sorry, I don't know of a product that combines chocolate with tea.