The goal of my blog is to help you feel confident making nutrition and lifestyle choices that support your health, from day one of your diagnosis and beyond. I translate science into actionable recommendations versus sharing misleading headlines that confuse and frustrate you.
Headlines on tea and breast cancer can lean toward frustrating, like this (false) online example:
“Green tea is being hailed as one of the “must use” natural cures for breast cancer. Discover why so many cancer experts say this plant is one of the absolute best breast cancer cures on the planet…”
Misleading? Yes. Frustrating? Yes. Irresponsible? Hell yes!
It’s impossible for me to rid the world of all the breast cancer nutrition nonsense, but I can share the unvarnished truth. So let’s dive in.
BACKGROUND
All tea comes from the leaves of the same plant, a warm-weather evergreen named Camellia sinensis. While there are countless varieties of tea, there are only six categories of tea: (1)
- Black
- Green
- Oolong
- Yellow
- White
- Dark
The differences among these six categories are the result of various degrees of processing and the level of oxidation. Black tea is fully oxidized, oolong tea is partially oxidized, green, yellow and white tea are not oxidized, and dark teas are fermented.
After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. In 2019, Americans consumed more than 3.8 billion gallons of tea; ~84% black, ~15% green, and the small remaining amount a combination of oolong, white and dark (yellow tea is extremely rare.)
Approximately 75-80% of the tea consumed in America is iced (or the American English version. . . “ice” tea), and tea is nearly 5,000 years old, purportedly discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor. (2)
WHAT ABOUT HERBAL TEA?
Herbal tea is NOT tea. Remember, all categories and varieties of tea come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Herbal “teas” don’t contain tea leaves, they’re made from herbs like peppermint or chamomile, and the roots, leaves, seeds or flowers of other plants.
Herbal “teas” still contain health-supportive compounds like antioxidants, so it’s fine to include them in your diet, but they don’t convey the identical health properties of tea because they aren’t, well, tea!
TEA AND BREAST CANCER
A variety of compounds and nutrients have been identified in tea. (4)
- Caffeine
- Catechins
- Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) (dominates in green tea)
- Epicatechin, epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG)
- Polyphenols
- Theaflavins & thearubigins (black tea)
- Theasinensins (oolong tea)
- Flavonols
- Quercetin
- Kaempferol
- Myricetin
- Amino acid L-theanine
- Manganese and flouride
There are literally thousands of research studies (animal, cell, and human) on tea and breast cancer risk; I had ~160,000 results from a Google Scholar search alone. You could cherry pick studies to support any one of the compounds and nutrients listed above as being beneficial in reducing breast cancer risk.
Many individual studies do share interesting findings, such as a 2017 study looking at how tea may have the ability to modify DNA without changing its overall structure to positively affect estradiol (a type of estrogen) metabolism. (3)
However, when we look at the scientific literature COLLECTIVELY, for both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer, there is limited evidence in terms of amount, consistency and quality to draw strong conclusions about whether tea consumption increases or decreases breast cancer risk reduction and/or prevention. (4, 5)
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR ME?
Unproven doesn’t mean disproven, and tea and breast cancer research is ongoing. In time scientists may determine which tea variety and how much is necessary to positively impact breast cancer risk.
However, if you’re a tea lover, you’d likely continue to enjoy it even if there were no health benefits to be had. Tea has been used medicinally for centuries, and we know that including it in your diet isn’t harmful.
TAKE ACTION!
- Enjoy all of the different tea categories.
- You’ll “drink” in the collective benefits found in all varieties.
- Choose unsweetened bottled tea (read the label carefully.)
- Aim to skip “drinking” your calories, and to reduce added sugar in you diet.
- To get the highest antioxidant levels, choose HOME-BREWED over bottled tea.
- A study measuring the level of phytochemicals in six brands of bottled tea revealed that half of them contained virtually no antioxidants, and the rest had such a low level that they would probably carry very little health benefits. (6)
- Enjoy milk in your tea, but concerned it decreases antioxidant levels?
- Research shows both outcomes, that milk does and doesn’t impact antioxidant levels.
- The amount of available antioxidants depends on many factors: tea brand and category, whether milk is skim, whole, or plant-based, whether or not sweetener (and what TYPE) is added. (7, 8, 9, 10)
- Hot or cold? Choose YOUR preference.
- There doesn’t appear to be a definitive answer as to which temperature or what amount of steeping time provides the highest level of antioxidants.
- Studies show levels vary between tea category, leaf size, even whether tea is “bagged” or loose “leaves.”
- It appears that for green tea, steeping at cooler temperatures (including cold water) may increase antioxidant levels. (11, 12)
Now I want to know; are you a tea lover, and if so, what’s your preferred way to enjoy it? And, if you enjoyed this post, please SHARE it!
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Thanks for reading my blog post!
I help post-treatment survivors of hormone-positive breast cancer end food fear, confusion and overwhelm, eat without stress and guilt, and rebuild their health so they can do the things they enjoy with the people they love.
I’m a registered dietitian, personal trainer, nutrition therapist and coach, speaker, and survivor of hormone-positive breast cancer.
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This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your dietitian or doctor for guidance specific to your needs.
SOURCES
1) The Six Classifications of Tea
2) Tea Association of the U.S.A., Inc.
3) Tea and coffee consumption in relation to DNA methylation in four European cohorts
4) American Institute for Cancer Research. Food Facts Tea
6) Bottled tea beverages may contain fewer polyphenols than brewed tea
10) Does Milk Block Antioxidants in Foods and Beverages?
11) Hot vs. cold water steeping of different teas: Do they affect antioxidant activity?
