Anti-Cancer Compound in Green Tea Identified

[RedEarth]

LONDON (Reuters) - Spanish and British scientists have discovered how green tea helps to prevent certain types of cancer.

Researchers at the University of Murcia in Spain (UMU) and the John Innes Center (JIC) in Norwich, England have shown that a compound called EGCG in green tea prevents cancer cells from growing by binding to a specific enzyme.

"We have shown for the first time that EGCG, which is present in green tea at relatively high concentrations, inhibits the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), which is a recognized, established target for anti-cancer drugs, " Professor Roger Thorneley, of JIC, told Reuters.

"This is the first time, to our knowledge, a known target for an anti-cancer drug has been identified as being inhibited by EGCG," he added.

Green tea has about five times as much EGCG as regular tea, studies have shown. It decreased rates of certain cancers but scientists were not sure what compounds were involved or how they worked. Nor had they determined how much green tea a person would have to drink to have a beneficial effect, he said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7899962

[rodeodance]

1. great---good science being done

[NVMojo]

2. got a better link for this?

[RedEarth]

4. Thanks for pointing it out.....try this link

[htuttle]

3. Green Tea is the secret to Japanese longevity

Green tea and fish, of course.

Green tea is really good for your digestion, too. Have a small bowl of Miso with it, and you'd be healthier than you were before you sat down for dinner.

[RedEarth]

8. Miso...sounds very healthly.....here''s a link with some information about

http://www.southrivermiso.com/aboutmiso/whatis.html

Miso (pronounced mee-so) is a delicious all purpose, high-protein seasoning which has played a major role in Japanese culture and cuisine for centuries. It is most often made from a combination of soybeans, cultured grain, and sea salt by a unique fermentation process, which was elevated to a state of fine craftsmanship in traditional Japan.

Miso is best known as a seasoning for soup; it is used for flavoring a wide variety of other dishes as well (see recipes). Today miso is gaining popularity as a healthful ingredient in many kitchens where awareness is growing that natural food itself can be our best medicine.

Miso offers a nutritious balance of natural carbohydrates, essential oils, minerals, vitamins, and protein of the highest quality, containing all of the essential amino acids.

Unpasteurized miso is a "living food" containing natural digestive enzymes, Lactobacillus, and other microorganisms which aid in the digestion of all foods, and which have been shown to ward off and destroy harmful microorganisms, thereby creating a healthy digestive system.

In traditional Japan, miso gained a special place in the minds and hearts of generations who came to rely on miso soup as an essential part of their daily life. In Physical Constitution and Food, Dr. Shinichiro Akizuki, director of St. Francis Hospital, Nagasaki, writes:

more......

[DARE to HOPE]

26. Thanks for the reminder about miso, and the site! :-)

[Fleshdancer]

5. mmm....more reasons to love green tea! n/t

[ElectroPrincess]

6. Thanks. It's (Green) Tea Time! /eom

[DARE to HOPE]

7. Coconut oil plus green tea extract equals...

...thirty pounds lost since October!

Hooray!!

(They both stimulate a sluggish thyroid, while corn and soy oil slow it down.)

Wow--read the rest of the article. We should also pop a B vitamin to make sure we get that folic acid, too.

[petron]

11. Can you tell me more?

Dare, can you tell me a little more about coconut oil? Do you use in cooking or do you have teaspoon full before each meal.

PM me if you feel this will get too off topic.

Thanks.

I love green tea and drink about 3 cups every morning to start my day.

[DARE to HOPE]

23. Just look up "coconut health" in Google for the good news...

...there are several books out now, documenting the still unknown research. I had to dig into the NiH files when I first heard of this, I was so confused. But it turns out that THEY KNEW in the 1940's!! that corn and soy oil turned their little piggies into fat and lazy pigs, perfect for market! But they rejected the coconut oil because it made them all LEAN and ENERGIZED!

Anyway, thanks for asking--I do both, cook everything with it, then add an extra spoonful to whatever I can. (The one exception to this was that I STOPPED putting the oil into my green tea--it causes the tea to stain the teeth!) I try to get the therapeutic 3-4 T per day. I take 3-4 400-mg green tea extract capsules per day. Both have been proven in double blind studies to increase one's metabolism, and provide other healing besides.

The thing is, we have so many wobbly cells within us due to eating all the polyunsaturated oils--you may lose several pounds of water at first, then your body can go into a period where it is rebuilding cell by cell, muscle, nerve and bone. You will start to feel so much better though that you will find energy to exercise where you hadn't before. You will start feeling so much stronger and clearer in thinking. THEN suddenly the weight will start to just come off. The coconut oil makes you feel so full and satisfied that you find you are eating less, and able to pick healthier choices, the craving for sugar is gone.

When I cook (our lives are so crazy, I tend to cook big pots of things) I add a can of sardines to the black bean grassfed beef chili, or the free range chicken br rice and vegetable soup, etc. and the combination of fish oil, coconut oil and other nutrients just goes to town to heal you, brain, eyes, everything (you really cannot even taste the fish.)

Finally--YES, just putting coconut oil (I buy the extracted oil for this, a little cheaper) on your neck where your thyroid gland is, or on any group of nerves, like the wrist, heats you up in a hurry, as will swallowing two capsules of the green tea extract just before bed. (Some cannot tolerate this due to caffeine--hasn't bothered me.)

Hope this helps! :-) (Somebody teach me how to PM.)

[arikara]

34. Thanks for the info

I buy coconut oil for making soap with, I never realized that it is good for you... and helps you to lose weight. I could stand to lose 30 lbs too.

I've been craving green tea lately.

[roseBudd]

40. I use olive oil for cooking, is coconut oil better? n/t

[DARE to HOPE]

41. Olive oil has been proven a healthy oil for thousands of years...

...I use virgin olive oil cold on salads and such. They have proven the nutritious value of the olive adding it after the fact to pastas, pizzas, etc.

The thing is, it is still monounsaturated. As I understand it, when we raise fats to higher temperatures, even in the body, but especially in cooking, that is when the missing electrons get oxidized. One of the best things about coconut oil is that it rarely goes rancid like other oils, and oxidation is not an issue with the"saturated" chain of fatty acids.

The sign of oxidation occurring in arteries or glands within your body, are those little dark freckles on your skin. Being half Italian, I was always aware of the extra share of "beauty marks" that my Italian relatives had, especially as they got older. I really think it is safer to use the coconut oil for anything cooked.

[Rainscents]

19. I love the tast of... Raw Virgin Organic Coconut Oil!!! It's sooo good!

I take this stuff every day! You can also use it under the arm pits... It works great! And by the way..... I lost 4 lbs in one weeks just by taking the oil.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. I really HATE Green Tea

But I drink about five cups a day, about the same amount as Japanese people do. (I use the tea bags, which produce less tea, AFAIH).

Even with lemon and sweetener, it tastes absolutely vile. But I suck it down, cup after cup.

Why?

Green Tea also has Theanine in it, an amino acid that brings blood pressure down, and in the last two weeks, it's brought mine down about 15 points. I never had bad hypertension -- only borderline Stage I/II at 145/75 -- but I wanted to bring it down closer to my "normal" at age 25, which was 90/65.

But the stuff tastes terrible, and the encapsulated green tea is far too weak, expensive, and tends to have very little Theanine in it anyway.

So I'll tough it out. I'll look at it as a morally beneficial practice, like cold showers, self-flagellation, and the lifelong study of Latin.

--p!

[petron]

12. Sorry to hear you hate it

I have found some absolutely terrific green tea but it's really hard to come by. Actually I got it from my acupuncturist. It's a organic mountain grown loose green tea that he brings back from China every 6 months or so.

I really doubt you can get it in this country but I'd recommend going to a nice tea shop or an Asian market. I've had good luck finding a tasty green tea at my local Asian market.

I understand what you mean about some green teas being awful. I stopped buying green tea at my grocery store ages ago. Yuck.

[Dogmudgeon]

16. I may just have to do that

I get mine from the grocery store, but I'm overdue for a trip to the Asian grocer near where my brother lives.

He drinks Green Tea, but he says that the stuff I drink is actually pretty OK. I think it's just about the most bitter thing I've ever willingly taken as food. Only udon soup with bonito flavoring was worse -- bonito is tuna which the Asians leave behind the 'fridge for a month until it has just the right flavor. :)

Theanine is being sold by itself in capsules, but it's pretty expensive. The only amino acid I take in capsule form is l-Arginine. It's also good for blood pressure, and in the long run it works better than boner pills.

--p!
Food.
Ask your doctor about it today!

[wickerwoman]

35. There are a lot of different varieties.

And many of them aren't bitter. You might try going to a tea house in your area some time and drinking a few different varieties. Then ask them where they get your favorite.

The flavor of the tea can also be affected by how you drink it. There's no real way to describe it, but some varieties are better if you swish them, some are better if you kind of inhale them along the roof of your mouth. There's one that tastes really bitter but if you drink pain water right after it it leaves a really sweet taste in your mouth.

If you're drinking five glasses a day of the stuff, it's worth doing a little research to find a kind you like.

[Psephos]

37. Try green tea with jasmine from an Asian grocer

The secret to avoiding bitterness is to not let it steep for more than about five minutes. When you buy the tea, buy one of those spring-hinged teaballs at the same time. Makes it a snap to brew up a pot.

The jasmine tea is absolutely delicious and refreshing when chilled. I make it by the pitcher and keep it in the fridge. If you prefer, you can lightly sweeten a pitcherful with a spoon of honey - you need very little.

[moggie]

43. Also be careful about the temperature

The stuff which gives the tea its bitterness dissolves at quite a high temperature, so don't use boiling water. I drink genmai tea (green tea with toasted brown rice, yum), and boil the water, then let it cool to 80 deg. celsius before putting it in the pot.

[Lars39]

13. Have you tried it with a tspfull of honey as the sweetner?

I didn't like it with sugar, but honey seemed to work.

[Rainscents]

14. If you hate drinking Green Tea... You can take Green Tea Extract in capule

I take two (Extract) capsules = drinking 10 cups of tea.

[Dogmudgeon]

18. What capsules are they?

The last time I checked, they had slightly more polyphenols than the tea, less caffeine, and very little Theanine.

--p!

[Rainscents]

20. You can buy it any health foods store...

I buy the "NOW" brand 400mg with 40% Catchins/60% Polyphenols. I been taking Green Tea capsules for 15 years... I'm like you, I can't stand the tast of the stuff!

[Ratty]

31. I do that too

I actually like Green Tea. It's a great substitute since I gave up caffeine (yeah, I know it has caffeine too, but not as much as coffee, right?). But I don't always have the opportunity to drink it every day so I take two capsules of Green Tea extract. It's our local supermarket brand. Any recommendations of brands that are especially high in the good stuff?

[Rainscents]

32. I like "NOW" brand... Every batch is tested before it's bottled.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

27. Theanine is also an excellent tranquilizer.

It promotes relaxing alpha waves in the brain. I wake up in the A.M. in a mild pleasant trance, thanks to theanine capsules. There are no side effects, and the authorities are unlikely to ban Asia's most popular beverage.

[Dogmudgeon]

28. That's close to what I've heard, too

Keep taking the Theanine, and you'll have to change your DUser name. :)

I already have gotten a blood-pressure reducing effect, but too much of my emotional state comes from how much pain I'm having that day. I'm nowhere close to a breakdown, it's just that my pain situation isn't too easily modified by anything short of narcotics or anesthetics. But the green tea has reduced the "tension" symptoms (sympathetic nervous system arousal) which also explains the reduction in blood pressure. My painkiller level has declined, too, but not dramatically. Still, I'll take what success I can get!

I'd just like to find a more palatable version of it, rather than buying Theanine and Green Tea Extract pills!

--p!

[rodeodance]

30. have you tried a bit of cone honey==

[BlueIris]

42. You could try white tea.

I'm not wild about green tea, either, though, like you, I consume it daily. As you may know, researchers are also currently studying the anti-carcinogenic properties in white tea, too. I think white tea is available in slightly more palatable varieties.

[goclark]

10. Great News for the People!

Bad news for the Pharma. industry.

"Remember the old saying..."An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away!"

[Rainscents]

17. Thats sooooooooooooooo true! More fruits and Veggies we eat,

we are going to stay healthy!

[Isere]

15. Hmmmm....

I wonder if this applies to green tea ice cream? ;-)

[cybildisobedience]

21. future Dem candidates better check with Candy Crowley first

Remember she said that Kerry ordering green tea in a Howard Johnson's was the reason for his loss?
Heaven forbid that a man who already had cancer should try and prevent future occurences.

[DARE to HOPE]

25. I think that Theresa is into alternative health solutions...

...(sigh) sure wish they were leading our nation in the health field now.

[Rainscents]

29. Yea... If Kerry was in the WH, it would be nightmare for Pharm THUGS!!!

[The Animator]

22. Well... I guess it's only a matter of time before the FDA

Outlaws green tea in the U.S.

Far better to have long lasting treatments than cures.

At least it's better for the pharmacutical companies.

[goclark]

24. Yep! Here we go to make green tea

disappear and make the drug manufacturers more $$$$$$.

Candi Crowley needs to drink a lot of green tea. It would be good for her cholesterol and may help her with a few pounds.

I have lost 7 1/2 lbs recently eating the healthy way.
I'm also working with my doctors to STOP taking all the medicines that are giving me joint pains etc. They have taken me OFF of the cholesterol medicine and I feel so much better again.

Got to go, it's treadmill time!

[daleo]

33. They will try to put it in a pill, and it won't work. n/t

[canberra]

36. But not if it is hot

Quite a few studies have shown the link between increased rates of throat cancer and the temperature of green tea.

Areas where the culture is to drink the tea very hot show much higher rates of throat cancer. Possibly this is due to the throat being scalded and allowing the carcinogens that are naturally present in the tea an opportunity to enter.

[SKKY]

38. WHHEEEWWW!!! And I though I'd have to quit smoking soon.

[DARE to HOPE]

39. Hey, SOONER is better than later, don'tja think?

Did you notice that the alleged killer of Judge Lefkow's husband and mother was so upset by his disfigurement that he sued his doctors for the treatment he'd received for throat and jaw cancer--AND YET! In the basement where the bodies were found, there was a CIGARETTE BUTT found in the sink that was presumably his! Too, too sad.