April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
According to Chinese legend, tea was discovered by Emperor Shennong around 2,700 BC. Originally, tea was used in religious rituals and for medicinal purposes. For at least the last 300 years, tea has been a drink enjoyed by the masses around the world. The history of citrus fruits is nearly as long, migrating from the Far East and India to Europe during the Middle Ages. The consumption of both might reduce a woman’s risk of epithelial ovarian cancer, a new study from the University of East Anglia finds.
The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, reveal that women who consume foods containing flavonols and flavanones can significantly decrease their risk of this type of cancer, which is currently the fifth-leading cause of cancer death among women. Flavonols (found in tea, red wine, apples and grapes) and flavonones (found in citrus fruits and juices) are both subclasses of dietary flavonoids.
The research team used data on the dietary habits of 171,940 women between the ages of 25 and 55, collected over a thirty year time span during the Nurses’ Health Study at Harvard University. They found that women who consumed these foods were less likely to develop the disease.
In the UK alone, ovarian cancer affects more than 6,500 women a year. In the US, the number is closer to 20,000. According to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, epithelial ovarian cancer develops from the cells that cover the ovaries, not in the ovaries themselves.
Prof Aedin Cassidy, from the Department of Nutrition at UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “This is the first large-scale study looking into whether habitual intake of different flavonoids can reduce the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. We found that women who consume foods high in two sub-groups of powerful substances called flavonoids – flavonols and flavanones – had a significantly lower risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer.”
“The main sources of these compounds include tea and citrus fruits and juices, which are readily incorporated into the diet, suggesting that simple changes in food intake could have an impact on reducing ovarian cancer risk. In particular, just a couple of cups of black tea every day was associated with a 31 percent reduction in risk.”
Cassidy collaborated with Professor Shelley Tworoger of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Their study was the first to perform a comprehensive examination of the six major subclasses of flavonoids found in a normal diet, as well as the first to investigate the impact of polymers and anthocyanins on ovarian cancer risk.
—–
Comments