DRINKING two cups of tea a day may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, research in Sweden suggests.

A study involving more than 60,000 women indicates that women who drank two cups or more of tea a day had an almost 50 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer than women who did not drink tea. The research comes after studies that have suggested that green and black tea may provide protection from several cancers.

A team from the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, said that few epidemiological studies had examined the specific relationship between tea consumption and the risk of ovarian cancer. The results of the study are published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Each year ovarian cancer is diagnosed in about 6,900 women in Britain, where it is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in women; more than 4,600 deaths a year are attributed to the disease.

The researchers examined the link between drinking tea and ovarian cancer risk in 61,057 women aged 40 to 76.

The women completed questionnaires about their eating and drinking habits between 1987 and 1990 and were followed up until December 2004.

During the study a total of 301 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Susanna Larsson and Alicja Wolk said they saw a 46 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer in women who drank two or more cups of tea a day compared with those who did not drink tea. “Each additional cup of tea per day was associated with an 18 per cent lower risk of ovarian cancer.” They concluded: “Because prospective data on this relationship are scarce, our findings need confirmation by future studies.”

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