title: Prospective cohort study of green tea consumption and colorectal cancer risk in women.
abstract: Tea and its constituents have shown anticarcinogenic activities in in vitro and animal studies. Epidemiologic studies, however, have been inconsistent. We prospectively evaluated the association between green tea consumption and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in a cohort of 69,710 Chinese women aged 40 to 70 years. Information on tea consumption was assessed through in-person interviews at baseline and reassessed 2 to 3 years later in a follow-up survey. During 6 years of follow-up, 256 incident cases of CRC were identified. The multivariate relative risk of CRC was 0.63 (95% confidence interval, 0.45-0.88) for women who reported drinking green tea regularly at baseline compared with nonregular tea drinkers. A significant dose-response relationship was found for both the amount of tea consumed (Ptrend = 0.01) and duration in years of lifetime tea consumption (Ptrend = 0.006). The reduction in risk was most evident among those who consistently reported to drink tea regularly at both the baseline and follow-up surveys (relative risk, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.77). The inverse association with regular tea drinking was observed for both colon and rectal cancers. This study suggests that regular consumption of green tea may reduce CRC risk in women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville TN 37232-2587, USA. Gong.Yang@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xiao-Ou
authors.initials: XO
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Honglan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wong-Ho
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Bu-Tian
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Xianglan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yu-Tang
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001628:Beverages; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors