Green tea and mushrooms cut breast cancer risk

Chinese women who ate mushrooms and drank green tea significantly cut their risk of breast cancer and the severity of the cancer in those who did develop it, an Australian researcher said Wednesday.

Min Zhang, from the University of Western Australia, studied the diets of 2,018 women from the southeastern Chinese city of Hangzhou -- half of whom had breast cancer -- between July 2004 and September 2005.

While breast cancer was the most common type of cancer for women worldwide, Min said the rate in China was four to five times lower than that typically found in developed countries.

"We concluded that higher dietary intake of mushrooms decreased breast cancer risk in pre- and post-menopausal Chinese women, and an additional decreased risk of breast cancer from the joint effect of mushrooms and green tea was observed," Min told AFP.