Japanese researchers just published a study that green tea doesn’t prevent breast cancer in the Journal Breast Cancer Research.
Whenever a study does not fit our expectations, we have to consider if we are dealing with a biased or otherwise flawed study.
Do these researcher want that we throw out green and herbal teas "because they don't prevent breast cancer"? We would assume that Japanese people would want to increase the sales of their Japanese tea, wouldn’t we? But that is as flawed as thinking that all American would want to boost the sales of American lettuce.
Medical science is confusing to lay people - and to doctors as well. Clearly, this study goes in the face of everything I am standing for ) or pretty much everything), and you could call me biased. I am. And that study did not convince me that green tea is not good for you – or me. (But clearly, I have a hard time arguing my case here!).
Looking into the research, two facts are interesting: The Breast Cancer Research journal is reputable – but certainly not The Lancet, The British Medical Journal or the New England Journal of Medicine. It clearly is a second tier journal. Why was this article not accepted by any of the biggies?
The other find is that the numbers are all over the place, even more varying with the bancha than with the sencha tea drinkers. Bancha is the cheap version of sencha. Could it be that people who can’t afford sencha can also not afford a healthier diet? We know that junk food has made inroads into the Japanese society. Sencha comes out sort of even – the claim that green tea doesn’t do anything against breast cancer comes mostly from the bancha drinkers.
Since we don’t know anything else about the lifestyle of the cohort, we do not know how healthy people lived otherwise.
Meanwhile, I suggest sticking with common sense and green tea for your health because sugared beverages are clearly not the answer. Read More
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