Green Tea Reduces Skin Tumor Initiation in Mice
Study description: Scientists at
the Skin Disease Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, used groups of hairless
mice to test the protective effects of green tea against polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are powerful inducers of skin cancer.
Type of study: Animal
What happened: The mice,
which were divided into two groups, received either drinking water containing
green tea extract or plain drinking water (the control group) for 50 days. They were then injected with a
powerful skin cancer inducer called 7/12-dimethylbenz[a] anthracene (DMBA),
followed by twice weekly applications of a tumor promoter known as 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate
(TPA).
Those that received the green tea extract
developed 44% fewer skin tumors than the controls. In another arm of the study,
painting green tea polyphenols on the skin of the mice also resulted in substantial
protection against both the onset and development of skin tumors.
Researchers' conclusion: Green
tea polyphenols have “substantial anti-skin-tumor-initiating activity against
PAHs and could prove useful in protecting against some forms of cancer.”
Citation: Wang ZY, Khan WA,
Bickers DR, Mukhtar H. Protection against polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbon-induced skin tumor initiation in mice by green tea polyphenols.
Carcinogenesis 1989;10(2):411-15.(Click here to read PubMed study
abstract.)
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