Green tea has been widely promoted as potential aid for fighting cancer as well as several other diseases. However scientists have struggled to explain how green tea and its extracts work to reduce the risk of cancer or to slow the growth of cancer cells.
A recent study published in the journal Metabolomics offers an explanation that researchers say could open a new area of cancer-fighting research. The study reports that EGCg one of the more extensively studied green tea polyphenols altered the metabolism of pancreatic cancer cells by suppressing the expression of lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) an enzyme associated with cancer.
Using sophisticated metabolic profiling methods the researchers found EGCg disrupted the metabolic balance in the same manner that oxamate a known LDHA inhibitor did. As a result both EGCg and oxamate reduced the risk of cancer by disrupting the balance in the cancer cells metabolic functions.
This explains how cancer cell metabolism can be disrupted and provides a way to potentially alter the course of cancer or prevent cancer.
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