Medicinal tea

Consumption of green tea may help prevent cancer, suggest epidemiological studies conducted by researchers at the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. Green tea contains chemicals called cathechins, including epigallo-cathechin-3 gallate (EGCG). EGCG inhibits urokinase (uPA), an enzyme which promotes cancerous growth. Researchers say that cancers need enzymes like uPA to invade cells and start metastases -- the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another. Studies on laboratory mice have shown that inhibition of uPA can decrease tumour size or even cause complete remission of cancers ( Nature , Vol 387, No 6633).