QUERCETIN MAY MINIMISE COLON CANCER RISKS
The risk of developing colon cancer could be reduced by increased intake of quercetin according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Aberdeen, Ireland's National Cancer Registry and the University of Ottawa. Tea is the main dietary source of flavonoids in the UK. Study leader Janet Kyle said that participants were drawn from a "tea-drinking population with a high colorectal cancer incidence." The researchers performed a case-control study involving 264 people with confirmed colorectal cancer and 408 healthy, cancer-free controls in order to examine the benefits of a flavonoid-rich diet with respect to colorectal cancer risk. Their aim was to distinguish between total dietary and non-tea intake of four flavonoid subclasses - flavonol, procyanidin, flavon-3-ol, and flavanone. They concluded that that flavonols, specifically quercetin, obtained from non-tea components of the diet may be linked with reduced risk of developing colon cancer." The study was published in the British Journal of Nutrition.