The Food and Drug Administration says green tea has no proven health benefits. But scientists around the world say green tea possesses one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants, called EGCG, that in tests, stops cancer cold.

In new research, small doses of EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) in green tea prevented prostate cancer in 9 of 10 men at high risk and reversed leukemia (CLL) in women.
EGCG also kills cancer cells—of the breast, prostate, lungs, and ovaries in tissue cultures and slows cancer spread in animals.

So isn’t it time to consider getting the insurance offered by this remarkable and inexpensive natural agent that may prime your cells to resist cancer?
 
Here’s a recap of the latest research on green tea’s EGCG and cancer.  

Cut Prostate Cancer 90%
Can EGCG in green tea prevent prostate cancer? “The answer is clearly yes,” said Italian researcher Dr. Saverio Bettuzzi, University of Parma, after he found that it stopped the cancer in 90% of a group of men at high risk.

The men took green tea capsules providing 300 mg EGCG, daily or a placebo. All had premalignant lesions that could progress to advanced, potentially fatal prostate cancer.
After a year, only one man (3%) on EGCG developed prostate cancer compared with 9 men (28%) not getting it.

It’s mind-boggling. A 50 cent dose of EGCG in a capsule virtually wiped out the odds of life-threatening prostate cancer. (Betuzzi S. Cancer Res 2006 Jan15;66(2): 1234-40)

Reversed CLL (leukemia)
Mayo Clinic researchers documented that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) did not progress or regressed dramatically in four patients who took green tea capsules or drank green tea.
They also showed that EGCG kills such cancer cells in test tubes. When patients heard of this, some started taking green tea capsules or drinking more green tea.

In one case, a CLL patient began taking 2 green tea capsules daily (each with 315 mg EGCG). After a month, a CT scan showed a regression of her cancer. Cancerous lymph nodes continued to shrink by 50% to “near normalization,” over the next year. 

EGCG in green tea “may provide new hope for CLL patients,” says Mayo researcher Dr. Tait Shanafelt. (Shanafelt TC, et al. Leukemia Research, 2005, Nov. 30)

Blocks Breast Cancer  
EGCG killed breast cancer cells in test tubes and blocked cancer progression in animals, says research at the Uniformed Service University of Health Sciences in Bethesda. 
Animals were inoculated with human breast cancer cells and then given green tea polyphenols and specifically EGCG. Those getting the green tea and EGCG had fewer tumors and did not develop them as fast as animals given only plain water.
Not surprisingly, new research also shows that Asian Americans who drink green tea have a lower risk of breast cancer. (Thangapazham RL, Cancer Lett 2006 Mar 3).

May Treat Ovarian Cancer 
EGCG induces ovarian cancer cells to commit suicide, leaving normal cells unaffected in tissue cultures, say researchers.

Indeed, EGCG may not only help prevent but also treat ovarian cancer, says Marion M. Chan, at The State University of New Jersey. She finds that EGCG both kills ovarian cancer cells and increases the potency of cisplatin (a common drug used to treat ovarian cancer) by 6 times. Thus, a lower dose of cisplatin could work if combined with EGCG.

This is “potentially very important,” says Dr. Chan, because high doses of cisplatin have serious side effects limiting the drug’s use. EGCG, she concludes “may alleviate the problem of cisplatin toxicity and resistance, a major obstacle in chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.”

Other new research in cell cultures finds that EGCG inhibits activity that promotes colon cancer and liver cancer.

How EGCG Blocks Cancer
EGCG short-circuits cancer by blocking a cancer-triggering protein, and does it better than cancer drugs do, says Dr. Thomas A. Gasiewicz, University of Rochester Medical Center.

Specifically, EGCG deactivates a protein called HSP90 that signals the start of the cancer process. “As a result, potentially harmful genes are less likely to get turned on, and the cascade of events leading to cancer is cut off before it begins,” explains Dr. Gasiewicz.

Further, he says, EGCG promises to shut off the earliest genetic changes that launch all cancers, including breast, prostate, bladder, colon, stomach, pancreas and esophagus.

Drug companies have tried, without success so far, to develop pharmaceuticals that match EGCG’s anticancer precision, says the American Institute of Cancer Research in Washington.

Why Capsules Over Brewed Tea?
You can get EGCG in brewed green tea (not instant or bottled), but how much is uncertain. That’s why capsules are a surer bet.

The EGCG content of brewed green tea varies greatly by brand, studies show. You can’t know if you’re getting an effective dose consistently.

The EGCG is standardized in green tea capsules, guaranteeing the dose noted on the label.
Capsules are convenient, so you never need miss a day of high EGCG because you did not take time to brew and drink several cups of green tea.
Bottom Line: Green tea capsules are the most reliable way to get super-high doses of EGCG day after day.

Jean Carper’s Stop Aging Now! High Antioxidant Green Tea Extract has 315 mg EGCG in one capsule.

Taking the antioxidant coQ10 may keep your brain sharp by blocking brain damage, suggest Johns Hopkins researchers who studied animals with Alzheimer’s-like brain damage. Animals fed  daily coQ10 showed normal brain structure and no loss of memory or intellectual functioning.

In contrast, animals not fed coQ10 suffered severe neurological dysfunction with a drop in memory and learning capacity. The coQ10 worked by stimulating energy production in brain cells and inhibiting free radical attacks on neurons, researchers explained. (Ishrat T., Behav Brain Res 2006 Apr 16,Epub)

You might be able to toss the painkillers if you take fish oil for back pain. Neurosurgeons at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center had patients with non-surgical spine pain who were on NSAID painkillers, take daily fish oil. It was so successful that 59% of the patients stopped taking their prescription pain medications.

 Researchers concluded that up to two-thirds of people now taking NSAIDs could discontinue them and substitute anti-inflammatory fish oil to alleviate pain, including back and neck pain. An effective dose: 2400 mg omega-3 fatty acids a day for two weeks and 1200 mg daily after that, made up of 200 mg DHA, 850 mg EPA and 180 mg other omega-3s.

Sweet fresh Bing cherries may help fight the inflammation of arthritis, heart disease and cancer, says University of California-Davis research.

In a test, 18 men and women, aged 45-61, ate a total of about 45 fresh Bing cherries throughout the day for 28 days. Their blood levels of three telltale signs of inflammation, including C reactive protein, dropped 18-25%.

And to reduce muscle pain and damage induced by exercise, tart cherry juice may do the trick, report University of Vermont researchers. Muscle strength fell 22% in those getting “dummy” juice but only 4% in those getting real cherry juice. The average pain score dropped 25% in cherry-juice drinkers compared with those on non-cherry juice.

The message: Follow your exercise with a chaser of cherry juice. It can reduce muscle pain and damage.

Be sure your multi-vitamin uses a form of vitamin E called alpha tocopherol succinate.
Any form of vitamin E is a strong antioxidant, but vitamin E succinate has additional anti-cancer powers that are separate from its antioxidant activity, say Ohio State University researchers. Vitamin E succinate kills cancer cells by causing them to undergo a natural process or programmed death called apoptosis, the researchers discovered. They even modified the vitamin E succinate to make it into an ever more potent cancer-killer.

More good news for coffee lovers. Coffee, especially decaf, lowers your risk of type 2 diabetes, says University of Minnesota findings. And the more coffee, the lower the risk.
Women who drank more than six cups of coffee a day were 22 percent less likely than non-coffee drinkers to develop diabetes over 11 years.

Drinking more than six cups of decaf coffee a day cut risk 33 percent. Coffee is also tied to less liver damage and depression, but some experts still worry high amounts are not good for your heart. So check with your doctor before going on a coffee binge.