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Review
. 2021 Jun;75(6):865-876.
doi: 10.1038/s41430-020-00710-7. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Green tea and cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a review of the current epidemiological evidence

Sarah Krull Abe  1 , Manami Inoue  2
Affiliations
Review

Green tea and cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a review of the current epidemiological evidence

Sarah Krull Abe et al. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Green tea is commonly consumed in China, Japan, and Korea and certain parts of North Africa and is gaining popularity in other parts of the world. The aim of this review was to objectively evaluate the existing evidence related to green tea consumption and various health outcomes, especially cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. This review captured evidence from meta-analyses as well as expert reports and recent individual studies. For certain individual cancer sites: endometrial, lung, oral and ovarian cancer, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma the majority of meta-analyses observed an inverse association with green tea. Mixed findings were observed for breast, esophageal, gastric, liver and a mostly null association for colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. No studies reported adverse effects from green tea related to cancer although consuming hot tea has been found to possibly increase the risk of esophageal cancer and concerns of hepatotoxity were raised as a result of high doses of green tea. The literature overall supports an inverse association between green tea and cardiovascular disease-related health outcomes. The evidence for diabetes-related health outcomes is less convincing, while the included meta-analyses generally suggested an inverse association between green tea and BMI-related and blood pressure outcomes. Fewer studies investigated the association between green tea and other health outcomes such as cognitive outcomes, dental health, injuries and respiratory disease. This review concludes that green tea consumption overall may be considered beneficial for human health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of search strategy and selection of meta-analyses.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Green tea consumption and overall risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease from recent meta-analyses.
References of meta-analyses included in Fig. 2 [13, 14, 22, 26, 34, 40, 45, 54, 58, 62, 64, 65, 69, 76, 78]. Note: Colorectal, lung and pancreatic cancer risk reported as Odds Ratios.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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