Green tea hampers anti-cancer drug

Published on Tuesday 3 February 2009 21:43

CANCER patients who take tumour-fighting green tea products may unwittingly be reducing the effectiveness of one kind of chemotherapy treatment, new research suggests.

Green tea is known to contain a powerful antioxidant that can help kill cancer cells and prevent tumours growing. Many cancer patients drink green tea or take supplements containing green tea extracts. But according to researchers in the US, those being treated with one common chemotherapy drug could be making a serious mistake.

Laboratory and animal experiments have shown that combining green tea extract and the drug bortezomib cancels out the therapeutic effects of both.

In tests, each ceased to have any significant impact on cancer cells, allowing almost 100 per cent of them to survive.

But the scientists also stressed that "green tea extract may actually improve the anti-cancer effects of other drugs".