Urol Clin North Am. 2002 Feb; 29(1): 49-57, viii.

Green tea and prostate cancer.

Gupta S, Mukhtar H.

Department of Urology, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.

Many laboratory studies and human epidemiological data suggest that most prostate cancer deaths are attributable to lifestyle, including nutritional factors where diet plays a major role in initiation as well as subsequent progression of the disease. Under these circumstances, chemoprevention seems to be a logical and obvious strategy. Because of its long latency and high incidence, prostate cancer is an ideal disease for chemoprevention. The suitable agent(s) for prostate cancer chemoprevention should be the one(s) that has efficacy in the laboratory experiments on one hand, and also possesses proven epidemiological basis on the other hand. In this article, we address the use of green tea for prostate cancer chemoprevention. Experimental as well as the epidemiological basis for this possibility is provided.