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A population-based, case–control study of green tea consumption and leukemia risk in southwestern Taiwan

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Abstract

Objective

This study investigated the association between green tea consumption and leukemia.

Methods

A total of 252 cases (90.3% response) and 637 controls (53.4% response) were enrolled. Controls were matched for cases on age and gender. Information was collected on participants’ living habits, including tea consumption. Green tea was used as a standard to estimate the total amount of individual catechin consumption. We stratified individual consumption of catechins into four levels. Conditional logistic regression models were fit to subjects aged 0–15 and 16–29 years to evaluate separate associations between leukemia and catechin consumption.

Results

A significant inverse association between green tea consumption and leukemia risk was found in individuals aged 16–29 years, whereas no significant association was found in the younger age groups. For the older group with higher amounts of tea consumption (>550 units of catechins), the adjusted odds ratio (OR) compared with the group without tea consumption was 0.47 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.23–0.97]. After we adjusted for smoking status and medical irradiation exposure, the overall OR for all participants was 0.49 (95% CI = 0.27–0.91), indicating an inverse relation between large amounts of catechins and leukemia.

Conclusion

Drinking sufficient amounts of tea, especially green tea, which contains more catechins than oolong tea and black tea, may reduce the risk of leukemia.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Chien-Chin Chou for questionnaire data verification, Janna Frelich for data management, and Thomas J., Yuhao Chen, and Lia Shimada for technical assistance. The study was funded by National Institutes of Health (ES09723, ES00002). The members of the Kaohsiung Leukemia Research Group were as follows: Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital—Tai-Tsung Chang, Sheng-Fung Lin, Shyh-Shin Chiou, Ren-Chin Jang, Hui-Hua Hsiao, Ta-Chih Liu, and Pei-Chin Lin; Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital—Chih-Cheng Hsiao, Jiunn-Ming Sheen, Ching-Yuan Kuo, Ming-Chung Wang, Cheng-Hua Huang, and Chung-Bin Huang; and Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital—Shyh-Jer Lin, Yu-Ming Sun, Kai-Sheng Hsieh, and Yu-Hsiang Chang; and Shaw Chwan Memorial Hospital—Yuk-Cheung Wong; and E-Da Hospital—Hung-Bo Wu.

Funding

National Institutes of Health (ES09723, ES00002).

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Yau-Chang Kuo, Chu-Ling Yu, Chen-Yu Liu & David C. Christiani

  2. Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Yau-Chang Kuo

  3. Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Yau-Chang Kuo

  4. 7F, No.13, LN. 8, RongZong Road, Kaohsiung City, 813, Taiwan

    Yau-Chang Kuo

  5. Department of Geography, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua City, Taiwan

    Su-Fen Wang

  6. Yuh-Ing Junior College of Health Care & Management, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Pi-Chen Pan

  7. School of Public Health, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Ming-Tsang Wu & Chi-Kung Ho

  8. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Yu-Shing Lo

  9. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Yi Li

  10. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    David C. Christiani

  11. Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    David C. Christiani

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  1. Yau-Chang Kuo
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the Kaohsiung Leukemia Research Group

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Correspondence to Yau-Chang Kuo.

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Kuo, YC., Yu, CL., Liu, CY. et al. A population-based, case–control study of green tea consumption and leukemia risk in southwestern Taiwan. Cancer Causes Control 20, 57–65 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9217-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9217-7

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