Can Green Tea Treat Skin Cancer?
Some of the foremost promising cancer research going on these days involves the employment of green tea and its ability to forestall cancer and even treat cancer in patients who have already been diagnosed with the disease. Researchers are examining many possibilities for a way green tea might be used, and working to work out the cancer types for which it holds the most promise.
Over the last few years, scientists have learned a nice deal concerning the importance of a diet made in anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are a strong tool in slowing down the aging process and preventing disease. They are even additional necessary than even with the quantity of processed foods we have a tendency to consume. Fresh fruits and vegetables are wealthy in anti-oxidants, as is dark chocolate and green tea. Coffee is additionally a source of anti-oxidants, though it’s not nearly as wealthy in them as green tea.
The process our bodies undergo to convert our food to energy creates free radicals each day. Free radicals are oxygen containing molecules that damage our cells and DNA. If we tend to don’t combat them, the build us age additional quickly, they contribute to the development of blocked arteries and therefore the make us a lot of susceptible to the diseases and problems of aging.
So, it’s certain that we have a tendency to all need to consume a high level of anti-oxidants as part of our everyday diet. But, of explicit interest are the anti-oxidants in green tea. Asian cultures consume a large amount of green tea, and have espoused its healing properties for centuries. And, it just so happens that they need a abundant lower incidence of cancer and heart disease.
There are, after all, alternative differences between Asian culture and ours. Notably, we are so much more probably to be overweight; and analysis has shown us that obesity may be a important risk factor for several diseases together with cancer and heart disease. But, one other attention-grabbing fact; Asian cultures, particularly Japanese men are so much a lot of likely to smoke than we have a tendency to are, nonetheless they still have a much lower incidence of cancer and heart disease.
Therefore, green tea is of vital importance in our quest to measure longer and be healthier. There are tons of studies that have shown that green tea may be a smart cancer preventative and can increase the effectiveness of cancer treatments.
One vital study is linked to skin cancer. In keeping with the Yankee Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer. Whereas solely four% of skin cancer cases are melanoma, it causes more deaths than any alternative sort of skin cancer.
The quantity of new cases of melanoma is on the rise in the US- an estimated 62,000 Americans can be diagnosed in 2006, and regarding 8000 people will die from melanoma within the US this year. Nonmelanoma is very common. It is estimated that about one million folks develop nonmelanoma cancer each year; this can be regarding the same variety of people who contract all alternative types of cancer combined. However, folks rarely die from nonmelanoma – solely regarding 1000 each year in the US.
Since skin cancer is thus prevalent in our country, it’s critical that we tend to pay cash and time researching how we have a tendency to will treat this cancer. Of course, skin cancer is, in part, preventable. Therefore, as part of a healthy lifestyle we tend to should be diligent about protecting ourselves from the sun, as a result of this is often the most vital side of preventing each types of skin cancer.
To scale back your risk of skin cancer, be certain that you are always shielded from the sun, even on cloudy days, and even within the winter. Cowl as much of your body as doable with clothing, and use sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher on any areas that you can’t cover. Be certain to follow the directions on sunscreen closely; many individuals don’t use enough sunscreen and do not reapply it typically enough.
As scientists are researching ways to forestall and treat skin cancer, the results involving green tea are promising. One explicit study reported by the Alternative Medication Review showed wonderful results in skin cancer prevention and treatment in mice with the utilization of green tea both applied topically and given orally*.
During this study, mice were exposed to concerning seven completely different sorts of carcinogens, all of that are known to cause or contribute to skin cancer. The mice were divided into groups. Some of the teams were treated with green tea by substituting it for his or her drinking water. Others were treated topically with green tea extract. Some of the teams of mice were already plagued by skin cancer, as well.
The research was conducted thus that mice undergoing exposure to each completely different carcinogen were treated with green tea in each forms. As an example, some of the mice being exposed to UVB rays were treated with only oral green tea, whereas others were treated with solely topical green tea extract.
The research concluded that all of the mice benefited from the green tea treatment, whether or not it had been given orally or applied topically. In every group, the green tea was effective at preventing skin cancer. The study found that green tea applied topically appears to scavenge and destroy skin cells that are probably to become cancerous before they can mutate.
The green tea, whether or not given orally or applied topically, caught up the cancer growth within the mice that were already infected. Additionally, green tea given orally appeared to cause some regression of existing skin cancer.
In fact, these results are very promising. If this research is a smart indicator of how green tea may work in humans, as well, then topically applied green tea could become the new trend in skin products. In addition, these findings support different findings that conclude that drinking green tea is effective in preventing and treating many kinds of cancer.
The following step, in fact, is to conduct human trials to see if the same results prove true. It definitely looks that we tend to have enough information to counsel that green tea ought to be part of everyone’s diet for its ability to block aging and prevent disease.
The most exciting news from this study is the concept that we would possibly profit dramatically from the easy step of applying a type of green tea to our skin. Addition of green tea to our sunscreens, lotions and moisturizers may have a dramatic result on the quantity of skin cancer diagnosed each year. And, even for those already diagnosed with skin cancer, green tea applied to the skin would possibly sway be an effective treatment to kill the cancer cells, or at least hamper their progression.