Male tea drinkers 'at greater risk of prostate cancer'
23 June, BBC
Men who are heavy tea drinkers may be more likely to develop prostate
cancer, according to new research.A team from Glasgow University tracked
the health of more than 6,000 male volunteers over a period of 37 years.
They found men who drank over seven cups of tea per day had a 50%
higher risk of developing prostate cancer than moderate and non tea
drinkers.The team said it did not know if tea was a risk factor or if
drinkers lived to ages where cancer was more common.Prostate cancer is
the most common cancer amongst men in Scotland and diagnosed cases
increased by 7.4% between 2000 and 2010.
The Midspan Collaborative study began in Scotland in 1970 and
gathered data from 6,016 male volunteers, all aged between 21 and 75.
Volunteers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their usual
consumption of tea, coffee, alcohol, smoking habits and general health,
and attended a screening examination.Just under a quarter of the men
included in the study were heavy tea drinkers.Of these, 6.4% developed
prostate cancer during a follow-up of up to 37 years.
Researchers found that men who drank more than seven cups of tea per
day had a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer compared to
those who drank no tea or less than four cups per day.The study was led
by Dr Kashif Shafique of Glasgow University's Institute of Health and
Wellbeing.
He said: "Most previous research has shown either no relationship
with prostate cancer for black tea or some preventive effect of green
tea.
"We don't know whether tea itself is a risk factor or if tea drinkers
are generally healthier and live to an older age when prostate cancer is
more common anyway.""We found that heavy tea drinkers were more likely
not to be overweight, be non alcohol-drinkers and have healthy
cholesterol levels."However, we did adjust for these differences in our
analysis and still found that men who drank the most tea were at greater
risk of prostate cancer."
Chris Garner, a member of Edinburgh and Lothian Prostate Cancer
Support Group, said the research would not stop him drinking tea.He has
adopted a healthier diet since being diagnosed with prostate cancer 10
years ago and drinks green tea.
Mr Garner said: "As usual you get evidence on one side and you get
evidence on the other and you're left in the middle trying to decide
who's right but I have to say, I don't think tea is very high on the
agenda if you're looking at diet, lifestyle and so on.
"There are other things which come well above tea."Dr Kate Holmes,
head of research at the Prostate Cancer Charity, said: "Whilst it does
appear that - of the 6,000 men who took part in this study - those who
drank seven or more cups of tea each day had an increased risk of
developing prostate cancer, this did not take into consideration family
history or any other dietary elements other than tea, coffee and alcohol
intake.
"We would therefore not wish any man to be concerned that drinking a
moderate amount of tea as part of a healthy diet will put them at an
increased risk of developing prostate cancer.
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