Food combination:
Soy and green tea
Effect:
Possible cancer preventing effects
Background:
Green tea and black tea consumption have both been associated with a lower cancer risk. There is a substantial amount of studies that point to this direction and drinking tea has become very fashionable. Now some synergistic relations between green tea and soy are starting to emerge.
A study from Harvard Medical School found a synergistic, breast cancer inhibing effect between green and soy concentrate. Another study found similar effects regarding prostate cancer .
These results are rather preliminary and they were achieved by studying mice. The effects soy and tea have on people are probably similar but the magnitude of these effects is hard to estimate. What is interesting though is the fact that something cooks have known for centuries to be a tasty combination is now turning out to be a really, really healthy one too.
The interest of researchers on green tea and soy started after we learned that South-East Asian people suffer from significantly lower levels of colon, prostate and breast cancer than Americans and Europeans do. One of the suspected explanations has been the estrogen like substances in soy, the other has been the high consumption of tea.
My guess is neither one of these healthy foods is the magic bullet, since it could be any other part in the Asian lifestyle that makes it more cancer resistant. But tea and soy probably do have some kind of a role in lowering cancer risks.
There has been some debate whether soy is good for you or not. Some researchers have linked soy with increased risks of ovarian cancer and even breast cancer. But these are usually American studies made on American women. American women consume their soy in all kinds of other forms than Asians do, which is typically something fermented like tofu, soy sauce or kimchi.
One noteworthy thing for anyone who wishes to enjoy the benefits of tea and soy, is that not all tea bags are born equal. My Chinese friends always make a joke that the tea we are sold in the West is the small crumbles of tea leaves they collect from the floor after they have taken the good, big leaves away. You should look for some good, pure, organic green tea and brew it carefully.
I keep repeating myself, but it's nice to note how something that cooks knew all along is now turning out to be the optimal way of enjoying your tofu.
How would you combine the two ingredients?
These results are rather preliminary and they were achieved by studying mice. The effects soy and tea have on people are probably similar but the magnitude of these effects is hard to estimate. What is interesting though is the fact that something cooks have known for centuries to be a tasty combination is now turning out to be a really, really healthy one too.
The interest of researchers on green tea and soy started after we learned that South-East Asian people suffer from significantly lower levels of colon, prostate and breast cancer than Americans and Europeans do. One of the suspected explanations has been the estrogen like substances in soy, the other has been the high consumption of tea.
My guess is neither one of these healthy foods is the magic bullet, since it could be any other part in the Asian lifestyle that makes it more cancer resistant. But tea and soy probably do have some kind of a role in lowering cancer risks.
There has been some debate whether soy is good for you or not. Some researchers have linked soy with increased risks of ovarian cancer and even breast cancer. But these are usually American studies made on American women. American women consume their soy in all kinds of other forms than Asians do, which is typically something fermented like tofu, soy sauce or kimchi.
One noteworthy thing for anyone who wishes to enjoy the benefits of tea and soy, is that not all tea bags are born equal. My Chinese friends always make a joke that the tea we are sold in the West is the small crumbles of tea leaves they collect from the floor after they have taken the good, big leaves away. You should look for some good, pure, organic green tea and brew it carefully.
I keep repeating myself, but it's nice to note how something that cooks knew all along is now turning out to be the optimal way of enjoying your tofu.
How would you combine the two ingredients?
Photos (cc):
Soy sauce by Van Robin, green teas by A Girl With Tea.
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