One study recently showed that a particular kind of tea may prevent the formation of painful kidney stones. Now, a new study suggests that tea may offer some protection against a type of cancer that affects nearly 200,000 new patients every year.
For a study just published in the British Journal of Nutrition, oncology and medical researchers assessed data from 25,000 men who had participated in a larger trial to determine the effects of screening for prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancers.
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The participants reported their diet habits, which were cross-referenced with medical diagnoses over the course of 11.5 years. During that time, 3,088 of the male participants had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Interestingly, the men who’d reported drinking tea the most showed a “small but significantly lower risk” of developing prostate cancer, compared to men who drink tea the least.
Even when the researchers factored in age and lifestyle, regular tea drinking showed the same effect. “In conclusion,” the researchers report, “among tea drinkers, there was a small positive association between drinking tea and a reduced risk of prostate cancer.”
They note that their findings aren’t quite overwhelming enough for men who don’t drink tea to fire up the kettle.
However, with September as National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, this may be a good reminder to go for your annual checkup. It might also be promising to hear that if you’re already a tea drinker, it’s possible you’re taking in advantageous levels of antioxidants and other nutrients—not to mention the extra hydration from that cup that helps keeps the body’s systems in balance.
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