Green tea is well known to be high in antioxidants, those good little guys in the bloodstream that help prevent the body's cells from becoming damaged or prematurely aged. Research now tells us that green tea may also protect us against certain types of cancers, including breast cancer.
It seems that research has now revealed that green tea can actually inhibit breast-tumor growth in female mice (and believe it or not, a little mouse's breast ducts are extremely similar to those of a human. Go figure.) The study that revealed this good news was clever.
The researchers first injected every mouse's breast ducts with cancer cells and then, after several weeks, they gave some of the mice green tea to drink and the rest of them just plain water. Over a 6-week period, in those ingesting the green tea, tumor growth stopped or even reversed itself and the cancers shrunk.
The challenge now is for scientists to figure out how much green tea a woman needs to consume each day to receive the same benefits reaped by these mice from swigging green tea for 5 weeks.
Now remember: Most importantly, green tea should not be considered a substitute for traditional breast cancer treatment. It would be premature to take such a leap of faith. However, adding green tea to our diets is a good thing and, with summer here, lots of opportunities present themselves to drink iced tea - at the pool and beach, at picnics, during the kids' ball games - so consider using green tea when you brew up a batch of iced tea.
After all, you'll be showing off your girlish shape by the water, so you might as well offer those breasts a little added protection from breast cancer while you're at it!
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For more on Lillie Shockney:
Avon Foundation Breast Center at Johns Hopkins
"Shockney Therapy"