Urinary tea polyphenols in relation to gastric and esophageal cancers: a prospective study of men in Shanghai, China

Experimental studies have shown that tea and tea polyphenols have anticarcinogenic properties. There have been no prospective investigations examining the relationship between tea polyphenols and cancer risk using validated biomarkers. In the present study, a nested case-control study design was used to investigate the association between prediagnostic urinary tea polyphenol markers and subsequent risk of gastric and esophageal cancers. One hundred and ninety incident cases of gastric cancer and 42 cases of esophageal cancer occurring in members of the Shanghai Cohort (18 244 men aged 45-64 years at recruitment with up to 12 years of follow-up) were compared with 772 cohort control subjects. The control subjects were individually matched to the index cases by age, month and year of sample collection, and neighborhood of residence (case-control ratio = 1:3 for gastric cancer, 1:5 for esophageal cancer). Urinary tea polyphenols, including epigallocatechin (EGC) and epicatechin (EC), and their respective metabolites 5-(3',4',5'-trihydroxyphenyl)-gamma-valerolactone (M4) and 5-(3',4'-dihydroxyphenyl)-gamma-valerolactone (M6), were measured in all study subjects by means of a validated assay. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated from logistic regression models. After exclusion of cases diagnosed under 4 years follow-up, urinary EGC positivity showed a statistically significant inverse association with gastric cancer (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.28-0.97) after adjustment for Helicobactor pylori seropositivity, smoking, alcohol drinking, and level of serum carotenes. The protective effect was primarily seen among subjects with low (below population median) serum carotenes. The odds ratio for EGC positivity was 0.49 (95% CI = 0.26-0.94) among subjects with low serum carotenes while the corresponding odds ratio among subjects with higher levels of serum carotenes was 1.02 (95% CI = 0.46-2.28). Similar tea polyphenol-cancer risk associations were observed when the gastric cancer and esophageal cancer sites were combined. The present study provides direct evidence that tea polyphenols may act as chemopreventive agents against gastric and esophageal cancer development.