Green tea has attracted a lot of attention in recent years as a possible preventive for cancer. Epidemiological evidence for protection against stomach cancer from the antioxidants in this tea has been mixed. Japanese investigators pooled the results of six cohort studies measuring green tea consumption against cancer registry data. Tea drinking was stratified according to the number of cups consumed per day: less than 1, 1–2, 3–4, 5 or more. In men, no protective impact was found. In women, those who drank 5 or more cups of tea per day had a barely statistically significant reduction in distal gastric cancer, but no protection for proximal cancers. Study heterogeneity (P<0.001) suggests that these small differences may be due to other factors.
PositiveTip: Green tea may not be all it has been cracked up to be–at least for stomach cancer.