Recent research findings suggest that women who include mushrooms and green tea in their diets may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.
About the Study
The study, which included more than 2,000 Chinese women, found that the more fresh and dried mushrooms these women ate, the lower their risk of getting breast cancer. The risk was even lower among those who drank green tea everyday. It is a known fact that the rate of breast cancer in China is four to five times lower than rates typically seen in developed countries, although the rate has been climbing over the past few decades in the most affluent parts of China. The current findings suggest that traditional diets and specifically, large quantities of mushrooms and green tea, may help explain China’s lower breast cancer incidence, according to lead researcher Dr. Min Zhang, of the University of Western Australia in Perth. She and her colleagues reported their findings in the International Journal of Cancer.
The study was conducted in southeast China and involved 1,009 breast cancer patients between the ages of 20 and 87, and an equal number of healthy women the same age. All completed a detailed dietary questionnaire that asked them how often they ate specific foods.
Study Findings
Overall, Zhang’s team found that women who ate the freshest mushrooms, 10 grams or more per day, were about two thirds less likely to develop breast cancer than non−consumers of mushrooms. Meanwhile, women who ate 4 grams or more of dried mushrooms per day had half the cancer risk of non−consumers. Finally, mushroom eaters who also drank green tea everyday had only 11 to 18 percent of the breast cancer risk of women who consumed neither. The researchers do, however, point out that the study does not prove cause−and−effect.
They did account for several kinds of risk factors for breast cancer − such as the women’s weight, education level, and exercise frequency and smoking habits − but there could be other factors that explain the findings.
Are mushrooms and green tea the answer?
Zhang told Reuters Health that this is the first study linking high dietary amounts of mushrooms and green tea to a lower breast cancer risk. “Therefore,” she said, “it’s too early for women to assume that the foods will help them avoid the cancer. “
Still, it is biologically plausible, the researchers point out. Lab research has shown that mushroom extracts have anti−tumor properties and, in animals, can stimulate the immune system’s cancer defenses. For its part, green tea contains antioxidant compounds called polyphenols that have been shown to fight breast tumors in animals.