09.01.05
Under FDA’s “Consumer Health for Better Nutrition Initiative,” the agency has announced the results of a review of qualified health claims that suggest green tea may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. Based on a systematic evaluation of the available scientific data, FDA intends to consider exercising its enforcement discretion for the following qualified health claims for breast and prostate cancer:
“Two studies do not show that drinking green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer in women, but one weaker, more limited study suggests that drinking green tea may reduce this risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer”; and “One weak and limited study does not show that drinking green tea reduces the risk of prostate cancer, but another weak and limited study suggests that drinking green tea may reduce this risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that green tea reduces the risk of prostate cancer.”
The FDA also concluded that existing evidence does not support qualified health claims for green tea consumption and a reduced risk of any other type of cancer. Many critics of the new claims say they are not helpful in communicating the health-promoting benefits of green tea, suggesting that the new claims may actually turn consumers away from products that are green tea-based.
Two weeks after the new qualified health claims for green tea were released, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), Washington, D.C., presented evidence at an international conference on diet and cancer that a major component in green tea may short-circuit the cancer process in a way scientists had not foreseen. “We have determined that a unique quirk of biochemistry allows green tea’s protective effects to extend to many different kinds of cells,” said Dr. Thomas Gasiewicz, a professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “In fact, the active green tea substance—EGCG—seems to target one protein that is particularly common throughout our bodies, and it does so with a degree of precision that cancer drugs still aren’t able to match.” The protein in question is called HSP90, which is present at higher levels in many cancer cells. According to AICR, scientists believe that in some circumstances HSP90 helps to trigger the cascade of events that eventually leads to cancer and when EGCG binds to this protein it helps prevent these events from happening.
“Two studies do not show that drinking green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer in women, but one weaker, more limited study suggests that drinking green tea may reduce this risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that green tea reduces the risk of breast cancer”; and “One weak and limited study does not show that drinking green tea reduces the risk of prostate cancer, but another weak and limited study suggests that drinking green tea may reduce this risk. Based on these studies, FDA concludes that it is highly unlikely that green tea reduces the risk of prostate cancer.”
The FDA also concluded that existing evidence does not support qualified health claims for green tea consumption and a reduced risk of any other type of cancer. Many critics of the new claims say they are not helpful in communicating the health-promoting benefits of green tea, suggesting that the new claims may actually turn consumers away from products that are green tea-based.
Two weeks after the new qualified health claims for green tea were released, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), Washington, D.C., presented evidence at an international conference on diet and cancer that a major component in green tea may short-circuit the cancer process in a way scientists had not foreseen. “We have determined that a unique quirk of biochemistry allows green tea’s protective effects to extend to many different kinds of cells,” said Dr. Thomas Gasiewicz, a professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “In fact, the active green tea substance—EGCG—seems to target one protein that is particularly common throughout our bodies, and it does so with a degree of precision that cancer drugs still aren’t able to match.” The protein in question is called HSP90, which is present at higher levels in many cancer cells. According to AICR, scientists believe that in some circumstances HSP90 helps to trigger the cascade of events that eventually leads to cancer and when EGCG binds to this protein it helps prevent these events from happening.