The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    The potential of green tea for cancer prevention and treatment

    On the positive side, green tea is cheap, widely available, and has low toxicity. Now, we just need some good studies of efficacy.

    Writing in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 5 researchers summarized what we know so far.

    On the positive side, derivatives of green tea — particularly (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) — appear to have the following anticarcinogenic properties.

    • An antioxidant: prevents oxidative damage in healthy cells
    • An antiangiogenic agent: prevents tumors from developing a blood supply needed to grow larger
    • Stimulator of apoptosis (cell death): negatively regulates the cell cycle to prevent it from multiplying
    • Antibacterial activity: might be important to prevent gastric cancer

    However?
    Although some epidemiological studies suggest that green tea compounds could protect against cancer, the findings are inconsistent. And poor study design makes it difficult to generalize these observations to other groups of patients.

    The bottom line?
    The authors believe that further evaluation of EGCG is warranted. The focus should be on how the active ingredients in green tea interact with environmental and genetic factors, and clarification of the mechanism by which EGCG affects different cancer types.

    6/15/07 12:58 JR

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