Cypress Cynthia please help

Annette 11
Annette 11 Member Posts: 380
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Please check out the post below "Supplements to Strengthen Immunity". Would you check out epocrates regarding Green tea and chemo. It seems alot of sisters drink green tea. Should we continue? Is it just an herbel tea not to be to concerning even though it contains antioxodents?

ALSO are there BC sisters who drank green tea during chemo and scans have been fine all along and are still good?
I know many of us would be anxious to know this. Thank you.

Comments

  • Rague
    Rague Member Posts: 3,653 Member
    #2
    Ask your DR.

    Ask your DR.
  • CypressCynthia
    CypressCynthia Member Posts: 4,014 Member
    #3
    UMMC site
    Nothing on epocrates about alternative therapies, but the University of Maryland Medical Center has an excellent site on complementary/alternative therapies.

    Here is what the site says about green tea and breast cancer:
    "Clinical studies in animals and test tubes suggest that polyphenols in green tea inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells. In one study of 472 women with various stages of breast cancer, researchers found that women who consumed the most green tea experienced the least spread of cancer (particularly premenopausal women in the early stages of breast cancer). They also found that women with early stages of the disease who drank at least 5 cups of tea every day before being diagnosed with cancer were less likely to suffer recurrences of the disease after completion of treatment. However, women with late stages of breast cancer experienced little or no improvement from drinking green tea. In terms of breast cancer prevention, the studies are inconclusive. In one very large study, researchers found that drinking tea, green or any other type, was not associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. However, when the researchers broke down the sample by age, among women under the age of 50, those who consumed 3 or more cups of tea per day were 37% less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who didn't drink tea."

    More specifically, here is what the site has to say about chemo and green tea:

    "Chemotherapy -- The combination of green tea and chemotherapy medications, specifically doxorubicin and tamoxifen, increased the effectiveness of these medications in laboratory tests. However, these results have not yet been demonstrated in studies on people. On the other hand, there have been reports of both green and black tea extracts stimulating a gene in prostate cancer cells that may cause them to be less sensitive to chemotherapy drugs. Given this potential interaction, people should not drink black and green tea (as well as extracts of these teas) while receiving chemotherapy for prostate cancer in particular."

    Link: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/green-tea-000255.htm

    I would always check with my oncologist first.

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