A scientist at the American Health Foundation suggests EGCH may prevent the activation of carcinogens. Less was said about the health effects of the tea as a whole or of other compounds such as chlorophyll, which independently has anti-cancer effects. Given orally in amounts equal to the intake of tea-drinking Japanese, EGCH had dramatic effects. Sixty-three percent of mice given a carcinogen got cancer of the gut, while in the green tea group, only 20 percent succumbed. At Rutgers, scientists found that mice receiving the green tea chemical had up to 87 percent fewer skin tumors.
Esophageal cancer is a major cause of suffering and death in China.
In the US, too, there will be an estimated 11,000 cases in 1994, with 10,400 deaths. US National Cancer Institute scientists studied the records of 902 Shanghai patients as well as 1,552 healthy persons. They found that among nonsmokers and nondrinkers of alcohol, the risk of cancer of the esophagus was reduced by an extraordinary 57 percent for men and 60 percent for women. Eighty percent of all tea consumed is black tea. And, according to scientists at the American Health Foundation, black tea also has health benefits.