Breasts: An Owner’s Manual: Every Woman’s Guide to Reducing Cancer Risk, Making Treatment Choices and Optimising Outcomes. Kristi Funk

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      Let’s start this off with a pop quiz. What’s the most common beverage enjoyed by centenarians, a.k.a. people over one hundred years old? Water, grapefruit juice, tea, or red wine?

      If you guessed tea, you’re a smart crumpet.⁹⁷ And when it comes to breast health, your beverages of choice should include tea, coffee, and the ever-clear winner, water.

      Tea’s Not Teasing

      To me, tea is liquid gold. You derive a number of health benefits from all types of tea—green, black, white, oolong, and pu’er—so enjoy your favorite, but know that herbal tea does not come from the powerful tea plant, Camellia sinensis. As such, herbal tea lacks tea catechin flavonoids like the antiooxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), but it still gets a high-five for antioxidant activity.⁹⁸ When it comes to the breast, green surpasses all other tea. Three cups of green tea a day can reduce risk of breast cancer by as much as 50 percent!⁹⁹

      Researchers go gaga over green tea. Over 500 Asian American women in Los Angeles County with breast cancer were compared to 594 without cancer. Women who drank less than 85.7 milliliters (one-third cup) of green tea daily were 29 percent less likely to have breast cancer, and those who drank more than 85.7 milliliters (one-third cup) were 47 percent less likely to have breast cancer, as compared to women who did not drink green tea at all.¹⁰⁰ A meta-analysis combining seven studies of cancer incidence between green tea drinkers and nondrinkers echoes these findings.¹⁰¹ Then there’s the question of cancer recurrence: can green tea decrease the chances of cancer coming back again? A striking study showed that Japanese women with stage I breast cancer who drank more than three cups of green tea a day were 57 percent less likely to recur, and stage II cancer patients were 31 percent less likely to recur than women in both groups who drank less green tea.¹⁰²

      The brewing of black and oolong teas destroys catechins like EGCG, so gulp down the green variety when combating risk of breast cancer.¹⁰³ If you’re not a huge fan of green tea, I still want you to reap the rewards from it, so just plug your nose and chug down three cups or add it to a smoothie (I put matcha—green tea powder—in mine and consume the entire leaf). Three cups of green tea equals the caffeine content of one cup of coffee; although decaffeinated green tea has one-third the antioxidants of caffeinated, drinking some tea is better than none, even if you prefer decaf. In high to low polyphenol concentration, brewed hot green tea far outweighs instant preparations, iced, and ready-to-drink green teas.¹⁰⁴ Tea aficionados will tell you that tea bags literally contain the bottom of the tea barrel, the lowest quality tea known as fannings or dust. It all boils down to freshness, flavor, and cost, but nowadays you can also find whole leaves in a tea bag. To see what all the fuss is about with loose-leaf tea, place one teaspoon of green tea leaves in a cup, pour in four ounces of hot water, cover and steep for three minutes, then pour through a kitchen strainer into your mug. Whether you dunk and dash, or steep then strain, you will receive that precious EGCG either way you brew it. Always add a squeeze of lemon, since citrus quintuples the antioxidant absorption of your green tea.¹⁰⁵