May 29, 2015 11:25 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Green tea may reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer, according to a recent study.

Researchers led by Nagi B. Kumar of the Moffitt Cancer Center found that an active component found in decaffeinated green tea prevented "prostate cancer development in men who have premalignant lesions," MedicalXpress reported.   

Prostate cancer, which is diagnosed in an estimated 80 percent of men who reach age 80, is the second most common type of cancer in men.  

For the study, researchers wanted to see if a one-year intervention to see if  "green tea catechins could suppress prostate cancer development in men who had high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) or atypical small acinar proliferation (ASAP), Science 2.0 reported. They recruited nearly 100 men for the study.

Researchers used green tea capsules that contained a mixture of catechins that predominantly contained Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG ) -- the most abundant and potent catechin found responsible for these cancer prevention effects -- at a dose of 200 mgs twice a day.  

The group that used capsules predominantly containing EGCG was compared to the placebo tablet group over a one-year treatment period.

Although the difference in the number of prostate cancers was not statistically significant, they saw that "in men who only had HGPIN at the beginning of the trial, they observed a lower combined rate of ASAP and prostate cancer development with Polyophenon E," according to MedicalXpress.

The findings will be presented June 1 at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago. 

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