Tea: age-old beverage as an effective cancer chemopreventive agent
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Jasmine George Nidhi Nigam Yogeshwer Shukla
Received: 11 January 2008 Accepted in revised form: 1 February 2008 Published online: 29 February 2008
Yogeshwer Shukla (쾷) Proteomics Laboratory, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Lucknow 226001, India Tel.: +91 094151-58430 Fax: +91 522-2628227 e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
REVIEW
Tea: age-old beverage as an effective cancer chemopreventive agent
Abstract Cancer is the major public health problem, causing approximately 7 million deaths every year worldwide. The existing treatment approaches and surgical techniques have not been able to cope effectively with this dreaded disease. Because of this, the concept of chemoprevention is now considered a valid approach to reduce the incidence of cancer. There is convincing epidemiological and experimental evidence to show that dietary polyphenolic plant-derived compounds have cancer preventive properties. Based on evidence from in vitro, in vivo data and epidemiological studies, tea has received considerable attention over recent years for reducing the risk of several cancers. Much of the cancer preventive effects of tea, and in particular green tea, appear to be mediated by the polyphenols they contain. In addition to inhibiting
Introduction Many epidemiological and experimental studies have shown the effect of diet on health. Therefore, the relation between the consumption of certain foods and a reduced risk of some chronic diseases, including cancer, is becoming obvious. A wide range of dietary constituents show potential biological activities. In recent years, a number of reports have focused
mutagenesis and proliferation, tea is relatively non-toxic, is low cost, and can be taken orally or as a part of the daily diet. Therefore it is logical that future clinical studies should focus on examining the efficacy of tea and its active constituents, such as epigallocatechin3-gallate (EGCG) and theaflavins (TFs), in chemoprevention as an alternative to pharmacological agents. In this review, we address the use of tea and its constituents for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Further mechanistic and dose-response studies will help us to understand the effects of tea consumption on human carcinogenesis.
Key words Tea • Cancer • Epidemiology • Chemoprevention • Polyphenols
on polyphenols and their health-promoting properties. Many such studies, using cell lines and animal models, and human epidemiological trials have shown the potential of dietary polyphenols as chemopreventive agents [1–3]. These phenolic compounds can inhibit various stages in the carcinogenesis process by affecting molecular events in the initiation, promotion and progression stages. The ultimate aim of chemoprevention is to use natural and synthetic compounds to inhibit or delay the development of neoplasia by blocking
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neoplastic inception, as well as reversing the progression of transformed cells before the appearance of malignant lesions through the development of agents that prevent, rev
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