Research Debunks Claim for Green Tea in Preventing Cancer

Japanese researchers are throwing cold water on one of the much-touted benefits of green tea. Their study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine suggests that drinking green tea does not prevent stomach cancer, as many believe.

Researchers at Tohoku University in Sendai looked at 26,311 residents of the Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan. The residents filled out questionnaires in 1984 about their health habits, including how much green tea they drank. Researchers found no difference in green tea consumption between those who developed stomach cancer and those who did not. The study also found no connection between stomach cancer and black tea or coffee.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II