More than 9,500 women between the ages of 20 to 74, including some with an incidence of cancer, participated in the survey.

The findings were published in the January 2009 edition of the medical journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Survey methodology consisted of structured telephone interviews by Kumar and his research team, which consisted of researchers from Dartmouth Medical School (Lebanon, N.H.), the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle) and the University of Wisconsin (Madison).

The interview questions collected data on each respondent's tea consumption during the past five years, as well as information on breast cancer risk factors.

The findings for the survey group as a whole indicated there was no link between consuming tea and breast cancer risk. However, results revealed that women 50 years old and under, who drank three to five cups of tea per day, had a 37 percent less risk of developing breast cancer compared with those reporting no tea consumption.

While the study supports a reduction in breast cancer risk associated with tea drinking among younger women, the research team reported further investigation is needed to confirm this association.

Source: http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/1/341

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