MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - It’s possible that drinking green tea has a beneficial effect on cancer treatment, but don’t get your hopes up, medical experts polled by RIA’s Russian language service said.
Last week, the Daily Mail reported that the Singapore Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology had found that a chemical substance derived from green tea serves as an ideal transporter of proteins to combat tumors. According to the scientists, taking green tea in combination with conventional treatment could speed recovery, and even reverse the side effects of chemical and radiation treatment.
Alexei Maschan, the Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Research and Clinical Center for Pediatric Hemotology, told RIA that “green tea is unlikely to become a universal remedy, since there are more than a thousand types of cancer, and the likelihood that any medication could help against all its forms, or even against just one percent, is very low.”
However, Professor Maschan added that the beneficial effects herbal medicines have on cancer patients has been known for a long time. “Quite a large number of cancer drugs are herbal-based, and are obtained from rather commonplace plants, such as the vinca flower and the taxus yew.”
Maschan believes that the development of synthetic drugs demonstrates significantly greater potential.
“The probability of finding effective treatment via food products compared to what is being created synthetically is about a million to one. Therefore it is possible to search in nature, but this is not the fastest or the most effective path,” Maschan said.
David Zaridze, the Deputy Director of the Blokhin Cancer Research Center, believes that green tea can be beneficial to people with cancer, but cautions that patients should not expect miracles. “Some effect from green tea may be possible, but a serious medical effect is doubtful. There is not enough evidence that it increases the effectiveness of treatment,” the professor said.
Zaridze added that natural products like “garlic, onions, and cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, for example) all have a preventative value, but not a therapeutic one.”
