Green tea may help to lower the prevalence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma, one of the fastest growing cancers in western countries, said researchers speaking at a meeting on digestive disease in the US last week. Previous studies have found that the major polyphenol in green tea extracts, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), has chemopreventive effects on cancers affecting a number of organs in the digestive tract. The team from the Harvard Medical School reported that EGCG inhibits the growth and reproduction of cancer cells (SEG-1 and BIC-1)associated with Barrett’s oesophagus. Barrett’s oesophagus is a condition caused by stomach acid creeping back up from the stomach. The acid damage causes the cells lining the oesophagus to change and raises the risk of oesophageal cancer by 30 to 40 times.
