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Green and black tea intake in relation to prostate cancer risk among Singapore Chinese

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Abstract

Purpose

Tea is one of the most commonly consumed beverages worldwide. To date, observational data from prospective cohort studies investigating the relationship between green and black tea intake and prostate cancer risk are sparse and equivocal. In a population-based, prospective cohort study of Chinese men in Singapore, we investigated the relationship between green and black tea intake and prostate cancer risk.

Methods

Tea consumption data for 27,293 men were collected at baseline (between 1993 and 1998) using a validated food frequency questionnaire. After an average of 11.2 years of follow-up, 298 men had developed prostate cancer. Proportional hazards regression methods were used to assess the associations between tea intake and prostate cancer risk.

Results

There was no association between daily green tea intake and prostate cancer risk, compared with no green tea intake [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.08; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.79, 1.47]. For black tea, a statistically significant positive association and trend were observed for daily intake compared with no black tea intake (HR = 1.41, 95 % CI 1.03, 1.92; p for trend <0.01)

Conclusions

Few prospective data are available from populations that have both a high level and wide range of black and green tea intake; this study represents a unique opportunity to evaluate their individual effects on prostate cancer risk. Our findings support the notion that green tea intake does not protect against prostate cancer and that black tea intake may increase prostate cancer risk.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by NIH grant R01CA144034. We thank Siew-Hong Low of the National University of Singapore for supervising the field work of the Singapore Chinese Health Study and the Singapore Cancer Registry for assistance with the identification of cancer outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Julia A. Montague & Jeanine M. Genkinger

  2. Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, 1681 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1681, USA

    Lesley M. Butler

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Anna H. Wu

  4. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119007, Singapore

    Woon-Puay Koh

  5. National University Hospital, Singapore, 119074, Singapore

    Alvin S. Wong

  6. University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, USA

    Renwei Wang & Jian-Min Yuan

  7. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Mimi C. Yu

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  1. Julia A. Montague
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  2. Lesley M. Butler
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  3. Anna H. Wu
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  7. Renwei Wang
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  9. Mimi C. Yu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lesley M. Butler.

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Mimi C. Yu: Retired.

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Montague, J.A., Butler, L.M., Wu, A.H. et al. Green and black tea intake in relation to prostate cancer risk among Singapore Chinese. Cancer Causes Control 23, 1635–1641 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0041-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0041-8

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