Tea ‘cuts cancer risk’

Drinking tea could cut the risk of ovarian cancer, according to new research.

The research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that women who drink at least one cup of tea a day have a lower risk of ovarian cancer than non-tea drinkers.

Susanna C Larsson and Alicja Wolk, of the National Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, examined the tea consumption and the risk of ovarian cancer in 61,057 women.

Participants in the research completed a 67-item food questionnaire at enrolment (1987 to 1990) and then their cancer incidence was followed through to December 2004.

Researchers found that women who drank two or more cups of tea had a 46 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer. Women who drank less tea (one cup a day) had a 24 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer.

Other types of cancer were not included in the study.

The authors said the results suggested that tea consumption was indeed a factor.

“Each additional cup of tea per day was associated with an 18 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer,” Ms Larsson and Ms Wolk said.

“In summary, our results from a large population-based cohort of Swedish women suggest that tea consumption may lower the risk of ovarian cancer.”

But they added that caution was necessary, saying: “Because prospective data on this relationship are scarce, our findings need confirmation by future studies.”

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