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Drinking green tea to prevent oral cancer I often tell my patients that sugar sweetened ice tea causes dental plaque and tooth decay. However not all the news is bad for tea drinkers. New research is finding that green tea has anti-cancer properties. Without the addition of sugar dental plaque and tooth decay will not occur. Cancer follows cardiovascular disease as the second leading cause of death in the United States. Oral cancer accounts for 2 –6 % of all cancer. Cigarettes, cigars, snuff, and chewing tobacco have all been linked to oral cancer. Although China has a population of heavy smokers they have a much lower incidence of oral cancer than the United States. When comparing other habits of the Chinese people it was discovered that they consume large amounts of green tea compared to the United States. Studies were then undertaken to determine if green tea is responsible for lowering cancer rates. Recent research has found that green tea polyphenols induce programmed cancer cell death (apoptosis) without affecting normal cells. Polyphenols have the ability to access all the organs of the body; therefore green tea may also inhibit the growth of many other cancer cells. What is not well known is why normal healthy cells are unaffected by the polyphenols and are not destroyed. It is hypnotized that there is a cell regulator in healthy cells that is different in cancer cells that causes the selective death of cancer cells (apoptosis). In animal studies it was found that green tea lowers the risk of esophageal cancer, gastro-intestinal cancer and breast cancer. From these findings it appears that regular consumption of green tea is beneficial in the fight against oral cancer and possibly other forms of cancer. John
V. Reitz, D.D.S., F.A.G.D. Copyright
2008. All rights reserved. |
