THE SCIENCE HEALTH & WELLNESS: BEHIND A by Alex Rolland CANCER by FIGHTING DIET Alex Rolland Founder and Chief Research Scientist @ Cancer Treatment Options and Management Inc. The Effective Use of Green Tea in Treatment PREVENTION& In this article I’m going to bring ring substance that has a proven interest and expertise for us at you up to speed on the current role in regulating the genes and Cancer Treatment Options and scientifi c data regarding the processes that drive the progres- Management (CTOAM.com). benefi ts of green tea in cancer sion of cancers. Iprevention and treatment so We also discussed how the sci- that you can feel confi dent in My last article also discussed entifi c community determines your knowledge of how to use how you can use nutraceuticals whether or not a specifi c nutra- green tea to prevent cancer and to experience greater recov- ceutical truly has signifi cant aid in cancer treatment. ery rates, a reduction in cancer cancer fi ghting / suppressing treatment side effects, and a re- power and more importantly, First, a little science: duced likelihood of recurrence how this information can be for many forms of cancer with misinterpreted and lead both to ‘Nutraceutical’ is the term used the aid of individual nutraceu- missed opportunities for treat- to describe a naturally occur- tical diets. This is a key area of ment success and to the use of 32 : ENCOMPASS substances and supplements Understanding the Why Does Green that truly have no scientific val- Bioavailability of Green ue in the treatment of cancer. Tea Benefit Cancer If you missed this article and Tea: would like to read it, here’s the Treatment and link: Before we discuss how to use Prevention?: http://www.ctoam.com/catego- green tea to prevent and treat ry/educational-articles/cancer- cancer we need to understand Camellia sinensis, or green fighting-diets/ its bioavailability. Bioavail- tea contains bioactive com- ability refers to how much of a pounds (nutraceuticals) re- particular substance the body ferred to as catechins with How to Tell if a actually gets to fully absorb and utilize for health benefits, once the most prevalent being Substance Actually it has gone through the various epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or Helps in Cancer processes of digestion in the EGCG. Treatment and body. This is a hugely important issue in maximizing the cancer EGCG has been shown in var- Prevention: fighting properties of any nutra- ious studies to be associated ceutical. with many health benefits In order for a nutraceutical to be including: prevention of car- used effectively, we must under- In order for a nutraceutical to diovascular diseases such as stand how it works in the body have cancer-fighting power, it atherosclerosis and coronary to target certain cancer mecha- needs to reach the tumor at a heart disease; stroke; type II nisms. This is referred to as the level of concentration known to diabetes; reduced low-density defined mechanism. While we affect the specific type of can- lipoproteins and total cho- can make an association that cer you are trying to treat. If the lesterol; reduced bone loss; people using a certain nutra- necessary concentrations are reduced age related neuro- ceutical may have a lower rate not reached, your body cannot degeneration; suppressing of certain cancers, this does not make use of the EGCG in green muscle oxidative stress and prove that the nutraceutical is tea to fight cancer. Therefore, inflammation; hastening re- involved. it isn’t enough to take a certain covery of physical perfor- amount of green tea into your mance; increased fat metab- In order for us to have confi- diet. You must ensure that you olism; and a variety of other dence that a nutraceutical im- are ingesting it in the most ben- health related benefits such pacts a patient’s cancer, we eficial way and with certain must have proof of what scien- other substances which ensure as protection against chemi- tists call patient stratification, significant absorption and keep cal exposure and radiation. which means that: the concentrations above nec- essary levels for maximum can- While those benefits are sig- The nutraceutical works on cer fighting benefit. nificant enough to warrant a specific mechanism such the use of green tea as part of aas reducing a specific on- your daily diet, there is also Green tea/EGCG absorption cogene or increasing the activ- takes places mostly in the small substantial evidence that ity of a specific tumor suppres- intestine, after which it then EGCG and the other catechins sor gene; passes to the large intestine found in green tea can affect where it is broken down by the and regulate many cancer AND action of colonic microflora. related genes and molecular pathways, thus contributing The specific oncogene/tu- After being absorbed by the in- directly to the outcome of can- mor suppressor gene is ac- testine, EGCG is transported cer development and treat- btually causing the specific to the liver where the cytosolic ment. form of cancer being addressed. catechol-O-methyltransferase ENCOMPASS : 33 The Benefits of Green Tea / EGCG in Your Blood Stream: When you drink green tea vs. ingest it in supplement form, you naturally bypass some of the digestive processes which will later dilute the amount of EGCG your body absorbs and utilizes. Drinking green tea al- lows you to absorb some of the EGCG through the tissues in your mouth and this EGCG goes directly into the bloodstream, avoiding the metabolic process- es of the stomach, intestines and liver. This is key to cancer treatment because one of the ways that cancer cells metastasize (spread through the body) is via the pro- cess of angiogenesis, which re- fers to the process that cancer cells use to recruit their own network of blood vessels for enzyme attaches a methyl group However, while EGCG may have their increased growth needs. to it in order to target it for excre- the strongest cancer fighting ac- Therefore, by merely having an tion and to decrease its solubil- tivity of the catechins, the other increased amount of EGCG and ity in water. Since the amount catechins (EGC, ECG and EC) catechins in the blood, you go a of this enzyme varies between also have cancer fighting ac- long way to decreasing the abil- people, so does natural EGCG tivity and even EGCG that has ity of circulating cancer cells to bioavailability. undergone methylation, gluc- attach to other parts of the body uronidation, and sulfation has and metastasize. Once it is methylated, EGCG un- some cancer-fighting power. dergoes glucuronidation, and Additionally, a component of sulfation (attachment of more blood (human serum albumin), Scientific Evidence that biomolecules), which are impor- contributes to the transport and tant for the effective elimination stabilization of EGCG by directly EGCG Aids in the Pre- of the methylated product from preventing further breakdown vention and Treatment the body. by oxidation. of Cancer. The main point here is that At this point you may be won- without taking steps to enhance dering how you’re going to make Preclinical Studies: the bioavailability of green tea, sure you are able to get enough these processes result in a mini- Green tea / EGCG to where it A preclinical study is a study mal amount of EGCG actually needs to be in order to have that is conducted in petri dishes reaching the blood stream in its maximum cancer prevention or (unfortunately) on small ani- pure form. and treatment power. So, let’s mals in a lab setting. explore that now. While preclinical studies do not 34 : ENCOMPASS provide us with enough evidence that the test In a recent phase II clinical trial on people supplement can indeed be used to prevent or treat with early stage chronic lymphocytic leuke- a specific form of cancer, they do provide us with 1mia (CLL), daily oral EGCG (2000mg twice a rational explanation as to why the supplement daily) in the Polyphenon E preparation resulted in might play a role in prevention or treatment based the durable declines in measures of disease pro- on its ability to regulate or interfere with a cancer gression. In this study, 31% of patients had more causing mechanism. Preclinical evidence paves than a 20% reduction in their absolute lympho- the way for human clinical trials. cyte counts (ALC) and 69% of patients had a 50% or greater combined reduction in the size of their Preclinical studies have indicated that green tea lymph nodes. can play a role in preventing and treating various cancers including, colon, thyroid, oral, liver, lung, Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are considered to mesothelioma, esophageal, gastric, breast, pros- be key immunomodulatory cells of the im- tate, nasopharyngeal, bladder, NSCLC, chronic 2 mune system and are increased in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, head and neck squamous lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In this clinical trial cell carcinoma, pancreatic, endometrial adeno- on people with early stage CLL, 80% of the patients carcinoma, oral squamous cell carcinoma and os- had a reduction of lymphocytosis (high lympho- teosarcoma. cyte count) and absolute numbers of circulating Tregs and only 10% of the patients required chemo- therapy directly after the trial. Furthermore, IL-10 Population Based Association Studies: and TGFB serum levels (cancer markers) declined throughout the green tea intake period, in both The following association studies showed a re- patients and controls. In this trial, green tea con- duced risk of various cancers in people that regu- sumption resulted in the control of lymphocytosis larly drink green tea. While association does not as well as in the prevention of disease progression. prove that it was the green tea that resulted in the reduction of cancer, it does spotlight a signifi- Studies have indicated that 30% of men with cant connection which researchers then explore high-grade prostate intraepithelial neopla- through the use of clinical trials (as below).