RESEARCH
- Low
cancer death rates in green tea
consuming countries and countries with
diets high in chili peppers.
- Green
tea appears to block growth of new
blood vessels that tumors require for
growth and metastasis.
- Green
tea catechin EGCg inhibits special
enzyme cancer cells secrete to
penetrate and colonize tissue.
- Green
tea enhances the effectiveness of
conventional therapies.
- EGCg
inhibits telomerase, the enzyme that
"immortalizes" cancer cells.
- Capsaicin
inhibits tNOX.
- In
1999 Congress appropriated funds for
NIH to establish botanical research
initiative.
- In
2000 Purdue University awarded grant by
NIH to participate in botanical
research initiative.
The final decade of the twentieth century
brought exciting new research into the
role played by green tea in the pursuit of
good health and longevity. Epidemiologists
have long noted that people in green tea
consuming countries (primarily China and
Japan) have low death rates from cancer.
In addition, they have noted that
countries (especially Thailand and Mexico)
that consume diets high in capsaicin, the
pungent (hot) principle of chili peppers,
also have significantly low death rates
from cancer.
The potential
health benefits of green tea are being
studied extensively. This ongoing
research, which has been published in
prestigious academic journals, indicates
that the catechins of green tea (also
known as polyphenols) exhibit potential
anti-cancer and cancer-fighting health
benefits. The catechin epigallocatechin
gallate (EGCg) is thought to be the one of
the most important constituents of green
tea. Capsaicin, though less studied than
green tea, has also been shown to have
potential anti-cancer and cancer-fighting
health benefits.
Research suggests
that drinking tea, green tea in
particular, lowers the incidence of
breast, prostate and lung cancer. In fact,
there is mounting evidence that green tea
may be effective against more types of
cancer including colon, stomach,
pancreatic, skin cancer, leukemia, and
glioma. Researchers in Stockholm, Sweden
at the Karolinska Institute discovered
that green tea appears to block
angiogenesis or the development of new
blood vessels that cancerous tumors
require for growth and metastasis. If more
studies confirm these findings, it may
help to explaining why green tea is
effective against so many kinds of
cancer.
Cancer cells
secrete special enzymes called
collagenases that enable the cells to
penetrate and colonize tissue-the
metastatic process. A study done in Japan
at the University of Shizuoka reported
that EGCg inhibits the secretion of the
enzyme collagenases. In another study at
the same university conducted with ovarian
cancer patients, researchers found that
theanine, an amino acid found in the
leaves of green tea, synergized with the
chemotherapy Adriamycin in lowering tumor
weight. Adriamycin alone was ineffective.
Their recent research has also shown that
theanine also synergized with Adriamycin
to inhibit liver metastases of ovarian
cancer. Studies using human cancer cell
culture found that the effect of tea
catechins was synergistically increased
when catechins were combined with other
anti-cancer agents such as tamoxifen,
capsaicin, and curcumin as well as
Adriamycin. This adds to the growing
evidence that natural agents such as green
tea can greatly enhance the effectiveness
of conventional therapies.
A recent 7 year
study in Japan found that women with stage
I or II breast cancer who consumed five or
more cups of green tea daily had about
half the recurrence rate of those who
drank four or less cups a day. In Tokyo a
study at the Cancer Chemotherapy Center
using leukemia and colon cancer cell
cultures showed that EGCg inhibited
telomerase, the enzyme that "immortalizes"
cancer cells. Inhibition of telomerase is
considered an important anticarcinogenic
mechanism.
A recent study at
Purdue University identified and
investigated an enzyme associated with all
forms of cancer. The newly identified
enzyme, tNOX
(the tumor-associated form of NOX), is
expressed by cancer cells all the time and
is common
to all forms of
cancer.
The normal enzyme NOX, or quinol oxidase,
is required for growth and is expressed
only when cells are dividing. The
researchers determined that when cells
were exposed to EGCg
the cancer cells failed to grow and reach
the minimum size needed for division. The
cancer cells then underwent programmed
cell death or apoptosis. EGCg had no
effect on the NOX of normal cells.
Capsaicin,
the pungent (hot) principle of chili
peppers, has also been shown to inhibit
tNOX.
Before the proprietary process of
modifying capsaicin for exclusive use in
Capsibiol-T® was developed, the dosage
required for capsaicin to be effective
(its therapeutic dosage) had exceeded the
level at which its pungency and
neurological discomfort (heat) could be
tolerated.
In 1999 Congress
appropriated funds for the Office of
Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the
National
Institutes of Health
(NIH)
in collaboration with the National Center
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(NCCAM) to develop and establish a
botanical research center initiative with
major research institutions. Its purpose
is to foster research to identify
potential health benefits and a systematic
evaluation of the safety and effectiveness
of botanicals available as dietary
supplements. To date four institutions
have been awarded grants-in 1999, UCLA and
the University of Illinois-Chicago and in
2000, Purdue University and the University
of Arizona.
REFERENCES
Published research regarding cancer
fighting and cancer preventive benefits of
green tea and capsaicin.
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