Green Tea Eyed As Possible Skin Cancer Treatment

Medical Daily ^ | August 22, 2012 | Christine Hsu

[CutePuppy]

Scientists have discovered a chemical extract in green tea that can treat two types of skin cancer, without producing the harmful side effects associated with chemotherapy.

While the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) compound is too weak to make an impact when consumed in tea, scientists were able to kill or shrink two-thirds of cancer cells within a month when they applied the extract to tumor cells in the lab.

What's more, the chemical compound did not appear to affect any other healthy cells or tissues in the body.

Researchers from the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow believe that their study is the first to show that this type of treatment made from the green tea extract has the ability to shrink or destroy cancerous tumors.

Scientists created the treatment by condensing the green tea extract in small vesicle cells that also contained transferrin, a plasma protein that transports iron throughout the blood and naturally targets and attaches onto the surface of cancer cells.

Researchers then applied the treatment to two types of skin cancer: epidermoid carcinoma which forms scales on skin and melanoma which often forms in moles on skin.

Results from the study, published in the journal Nanomedicine, found that 40 percent of tumors vanished in both carcinoma and melanoma after treatment, while 30 per cent of tumors in carcinoma cases and 20 per cent in melanoma cases shrank.

Researchers added that the treatment stabilized an additional 10 percent of melanoma tumors ..... < snip >

..... "When we used our method, the green tea extract reduced the size of many of the tumors every day, in some cases removing them altogether. By contrast, the extract had no effect at all when it was delivered by other means, as every one of these tumors continued to grow," she added. ..... < snip >

[CutePuppy]

Preventive effects of GTPs (green tea polyphenols) on skin, prostate and leukemia cancers have been studied before, but this targeted method of delivery in a human study is what makes this treatment so effective and swift.

[mlizzy]

Thanks! That’s good news! I drink this stuff by the truckload...

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Importantly, there is a variety of tea on the market now called “White Tea”, which is basically immature tea. While tasting much the same, it has even more bioflavanoids than does green or black tea.

White tea is often being sold as Silvery Tip Pekoe, a form of its traditional name, and now also under the simple designations China White and Fujian White.

“White tea comes from the buds and leaves of the Chinese (tea) plant. The leaves and buds are allowed to wither in natural sunlight before they are lightly processed to prevent oxidation or further tea processing.

“The name “white tea” derives from the fine silvery-white hairs on the unopened buds of the tea plant, which gives the plant a whitish appearance. The beverage itself is not white or colourless but pale yellow.

“White tea contains high levels of catechins, some of which reduce the occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques and the severity of strokes, and prevent cancer in non-human studies.

“A group of flavonoids called catechins is responsible for the majority of flavonoids in growing tea leaves.

“According to a report released by USDA, in a 200-ml cup of tea, the mean total content of flavonoids is 266.68 mg for green tea, and 233.12 mg for black tea. White has higher levels than green, but was not measured by the USDA.”

[JohnBovenmyer]

That truck misses according to the article: too weak to make an impact when consumed in tea. Worth more research on the processed compound though. Old style standard chemo rarely touched either tumor, although some new drugs in the past couple years do help some. Better to identify and cut them out before they spread and while they're highly curable. Better yet not to grow them in the first place.

[CutePuppy]

Yes, the white tea is reputed to have more catechins than green tea (similar to the potency of active ingredients in broccoli sprouts vs mature broccoli etc.) but the practical question is whether it would yield more of the same strength GTP extract than the same amount of green tea... and/or at the same cost for a “normalized strength” extract.

If the answer is yes, then white tea may become a better source of .

While polyphenols include non-flavonoids as well as flavonoids, it seems that GTP responsible for cancer apoptosis is a specific flavonoid - epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCg).

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Sadly, I do not know, nor have I been able to find out. But it’s at least nice to know that there might possibly be an even better source.

One trivia bit about green tea against cancer is that the Chinese have been using strong green tea enemas, a lot of them, to help treat colo-rectal cancer.

An extreme effort, if you can imagine having frequent tea enemas many times a day.

[CutePuppy]

An extreme effort, if you can imagine having frequent tea enemas many times a day.

Probably not the most effective delivery method (concentration, absorption rate, localization of the target, etc.) but may have been one of the starting points for research, as a "proof of concept."