Tea linked with lower risk of ovarian cancer

06/01/06 Women who drank at least two cups of tea a day had a lower risk of ovarian cancer than those who did not drink tea, according to a study in the December 12/26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Evidence from laboratory studies indicates that green and black tea preparations may protect against various cancers. But few epidemiological studies have examined the relationship specifically between tea consumption and the risk of ovarian cancer, according to background information in the article.

Susanna C. Larsson, M.Sc., and Alicja Wolk, D.M.Sc., of the National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, prospectively examined the association between tea consumption and the risk of ovarian cancer in 61,057 women, aged 40 to 76, who were participants in the population-based Swedish Mammography Cohort. Participants completed a validated 67-item food frequency questionnaire at enrollment between 1987 and 1990, and were followed for cancer incidence through December 2004. At baseline, 68 percent of the participants reported drinking tea (mainly black tea) at least once per month. During an average follow-up of 15.1 years, 301 women were diagnosed as having invasive epithelial ovarian cancer.

Women who drank less than one cup of tea per day had an 18 percent lower risk of ovarian cancer than non-drinkers. The risk was 24 percent lower for women who drank one cup of tea per day.

This work was supported by research grants from the Swedish Cancer Foundation and the Swedish Research Council/Longitudinal Studies, Stockholm, Sweden.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060103085358.htm