Green Tea and Breast Cancer

NASHVILLE—In further support of green tea, researchers found drinking green tea may be weakly associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer (J Nutr. 2009;139(2):310-16). Epidemiological and animal data suggest tea and tea polyphenols may be preventive against various cancers, including breast cancer. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) catalyzes catechol estrogens and tea polyphenols. The COMT rs4680 AA genotype leads to lower COMT activity, which may affect the relationship between green tea consumption and breast cancer risk. Researchers evaluated whether regular green tea consumption was associated with breast cancer risk among 3,454 incident cases and 3,474 controls aged 20 to 74 years in a population-based case-control study during 1996 to 2005. All participants were interviewed in person about green tea consumption habits, including age of initiation, duration of use, brew strength and quantity of tea. Compared with nondrinkers, regular drinking of green tea was associated with a slightly decreased risk for breast cancer. Among premenopausal women, reduced risk was observed for years of green tea drinking (P–trend=0.02) and a dose-response relationship with the amount of tea consumed per month was also observed (P-trend = 0.046). COMT rs4680 genotypes did not have a modifying effect on the association of green tea intake with breast cancer risk.