They gave mice with developing stomach and lung tumors green tea for several weeks before the mice died. Scientists then examined the mice and found that those who received green tea daily had markedly fewer tumors at both sites. Rutgers and State University of New Jersey scientists stress that their findings apply only to the genuine tea plant, Canellia Sinensis. Tea is one of the oldest and most widely consumed beverages in the world. Although black tea is the more commonly consumed version in the United States and other Western nations, green tea is popular in China, Japan and many countries in the Far East.
Green tea is made by steaming and drying fresh tea leaves.
Black and orange tea are made in a similar manner, however they are processed more, which researchers say may strip the western versions of their inherent anti-cancer chemicals called polyphenols. In many Far Eastern cultures the health benefits of tea are widely asserted and far reaching, including lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, stabilizing blood sugar, killing bacteria and staving off disease. In Japan, where men smoke more than American men but have a much lower lung cancer risk, some scientists suspect green tea may play an anti-cancer role. In studies of people in tea-producing regions who regularly consume tea, cancer rates are lower than the Japanese national average. Because previous studies on green tea's cancer fighting ability furnished mixed results, researchers urge further research into the true colors of green tea.