Green Tea Fights Oral Cancer

EGCG, the active ingredient in green tea, selectively destroys oral cancer cells without disrupting healthy ones, according to a lab study at Penn State. “The problem with a lot of chemotherapy drugs-especially early chemotherapy drugs-is that they really just target rapidly dividing cells, so cancer divides rapidly, but so do cells in your hair follicles and cells in your intestines, so you have a lot of side effects,” said researcher Joshua Lambert, PhD, “but you don’t see these sorts of side effects with green tea consumption.” Earlier research found that green tea in a mouthwash reduced dental plaque. Green tea is an ingredient in some natural toothpastes and mouthwashes.