茶叶的抗癌作用研究进展

Research Progress of Tea Anticancer Effects

科学研究表明,饮茶对人类各种疾病有预防作用。儿茶素是茶叶中最主要的抗癌成分,不仅能够抑制人体对许多致癌物的吸收,而且对机体本身基因突变和免疫系统紊乱等引起的癌症有预防作用。近年来,茶叶抗癌机理成为研究的热点,取得了显著成效。从细胞水平,动物试验,流行病学调查和临床研究四个方面综述了茶叶的抗癌功效及其抗癌机理,即抗氧化作用,抗突变作用,诱导细胞凋亡等方面的研究进展。

Scientific research indicated that dietary intake of tea may prevent and reduce the risk of different types of malig nancies.Catechins,the major active component in green tea,could not only inhibit the assimilation of many carcinogens, but also act as a chemoprevention agent for cancers induced by gene mutation,immune system disorder and so on.In recent years,its underlying mechanism against carcinoma has attracted many researchers＇attention,and prominent achievements have been made.In the present paper,we summarized anticancer effects of tea from four aspects,viz.animal tumor models, cell culture systems,epidemiological study and clinical trials,and also reviewed the research progress of its underlying mech anism,such as antioxidant effect,antimutagenic effect,induction of cell apoptosis and so on.