The findings are the first to link green tea to lower rates of chronic gastritis. In addition, researchers found as frequency and duration of tea drinking increased, the risk of both chronic gastritis and stomach cancer decreased.
Chronic gastritis is a common inflammatory disease that causes precancerous lesions of the stomach.
The progression from chronic gastritis to stomach cancer is slow. Green tea contains antioxidants that researchers believe may inhibit the development of chronic gastritis and halt the progression of stomach cancer. The study suggests that using green tea to treat chronic gastritis and as a preventive therapy in high-risk populations would reduce the incidence of stomach cancer in the long term. Results were adjusted to account for differences in age, gender, education, body mass, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Incidence of stomach cancer is second only to lung cancer worldwide.