ASCO finds green tea beneficial

June 24, 2010

(NaturalNews) According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), chronic

lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a form of cancer that causes the number of white

blood cells called B lymphocytes, or B cells, to increase abnormally.

Eventually, the cancerous cells can move through the blood to the liver, spleen,

and other organs. When CLL spreads, it is usually treated with an arsenal of

side effect-laden chemotherapies. But new research has revealed a natural

substance -- an extract of green tea -- may have the ability to put the brakes

on CLL.

Mayo Clinic researchers recently announced these findings in Chicago at the

annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In a phase

II clinical trial, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major component of green

tea, halted the progression in the majority of CLL patients.

The research is the latest in a series of Mayo studies that shows EGCG appears

to have a powerful yet non-toxic impact on CLL. About eight years ago, Mayo

scientists first tested EGCG in the lab and documented it reduced the survival

of CLL cells. This was followed by a successful phase I clinical trial,

published last May in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, that showed the leukemia

cell count was not only reduced in one-third of the study participants, but a

majority of patients in the trial with enlarged lymph nodes due to CLL saw a 50

percent or greater reduction in their lymph node size.

The latest phase II clinical trial involved 41 CLL patients who received EGCG

and the results were even more dramatic. The majority, 69 percent, of the

research subjects had a positive biological response to EGCG -- including a 20

percent or greater sustained reduction in blood lymphocyte count and/or a 50

percent or greater reduction in lymph node size.

Overall, the treatment was well tolerated with only very mild side effects in

most patients. According to Tait Shanafelt, M.D., a Mayo Clinic hematologist who

headed study, the results show EGCC " may be useful for stabilizing this form of

leukemia, potentially slowing it down. "

" These studies advance the notion that a nutraceutical like EGCG can and should

be studied as cancer preventives, " Neil Kay, M.D. a hematology researcher whose

laboratory first tested the green tea extract in leukemic blood cells from CLL

patients, said in the statement to the press. " Using nontoxic chemicals to push

back cancer growth to delay the need for toxic therapies is a worthy goal in

oncology research -- particularly for forms of cancer initially managed by

observation such as CLL. "

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