Now officially incorporated into the Centers for Disease Control STD Treatment Guidelines, the topical application of phytonutrients from green tea on external genital warts results in an astounding 100% clearance in more than half the patients tested—a testament to the power of plants.
Treating Genital Warts with Green Tea
There’s a new treatment for genital warts. It has a fancy brand name for marketing purposes, but it’s basically just green tea in ointment form. It was tried on a thousand men and women, and complete clearance of all external genital warts was obtained in more than half the patients with a 10% or 15% green tea phytonutrient ointment. Such astounding results it’s been officially incorporated into the latest STD treatment guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control.
I bring this up as an illustration of the potential power of plants—like the tea plant—even when just smeared on our skin! As a physician, I care less about the strains of HPV that cause warts, and more about the HPV that causes death.
We know green tea consumption is associated with lower risk of certain gynecological cancers—ovarian, endothelial—but what about the HPV-related cervical, vaginal, and vulva cancers?
Well, a recent in vitro study looking at two different lines of cervical cancer cells found that green tea phytonutrients appear to open cans of cancer, whoop-ass, but in terms of diet, what’s important is that the phytonutrients in green tea appear protective, not only when applied topically to cervical lesions, but orally, as well—suggesting that high consumption of green tea could either reduce the incidence of cervical cancer, or delay the progression of precancerous lesions to cervical cancer.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Serena.
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- Butler LM, Wu AH. Green and black tea in relation to gynecologic cancers. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011 Jun; 55(6):931-40. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201100058.
- Dunne EF, Friedman A, Datta SD, Markowitz LE, Workowski KA. Updates on human papillomavirus and genital warts and counseling messages from the 2010 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines. Clin Infect Dis. 2011 Dec; 53 Suppl 3:S143-52.
- Zou C, Liu H, Feugang JM, Hao Z, Chow HH, Garcia F. Green Tea Compound in Chemoprevention of Cervical Cancer. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2010 May; 20(4):617-24.
- Ahn WS, Yoo J, Huh SW, Kim CK, Lee JM, Namkoong SE, Bae SM, Lee IP. Protective effects of green tea extracts (polyphenon E and EGCG) on human cervical lesions. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2003 Oct; 12(5):383-90.
Image thanks to Dharam M. Ramnani, M.D. and gkdavie via flickr
There’s a new treatment for genital warts. It has a fancy brand name for marketing purposes, but it’s basically just green tea in ointment form. It was tried on a thousand men and women, and complete clearance of all external genital warts was obtained in more than half the patients with a 10% or 15% green tea phytonutrient ointment. Such astounding results it’s been officially incorporated into the latest STD treatment guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control.
I bring this up as an illustration of the potential power of plants—like the tea plant—even when just smeared on our skin! As a physician, I care less about the strains of HPV that cause warts, and more about the HPV that causes death.
We know green tea consumption is associated with lower risk of certain gynecological cancers—ovarian, endothelial—but what about the HPV-related cervical, vaginal, and vulva cancers?
Well, a recent in vitro study looking at two different lines of cervical cancer cells found that green tea phytonutrients appear to open cans of cancer, whoop-ass, but in terms of diet, what’s important is that the phytonutrients in green tea appear protective, not only when applied topically to cervical lesions, but orally, as well—suggesting that high consumption of green tea could either reduce the incidence of cervical cancer, or delay the progression of precancerous lesions to cervical cancer.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Serena.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Butler LM, Wu AH. Green and black tea in relation to gynecologic cancers. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011 Jun; 55(6):931-40. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201100058.
- Dunne EF, Friedman A, Datta SD, Markowitz LE, Workowski KA. Updates on human papillomavirus and genital warts and counseling messages from the 2010 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines. Clin Infect Dis. 2011 Dec; 53 Suppl 3:S143-52.
- Zou C, Liu H, Feugang JM, Hao Z, Chow HH, Garcia F. Green Tea Compound in Chemoprevention of Cervical Cancer. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2010 May; 20(4):617-24.
- Ahn WS, Yoo J, Huh SW, Kim CK, Lee JM, Namkoong SE, Bae SM, Lee IP. Protective effects of green tea extracts (polyphenon E and EGCG) on human cervical lesions. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2003 Oct; 12(5):383-90.
Image thanks to Dharam M. Ramnani, M.D. and gkdavie via flickr
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Treating Genital Warts with Green Tea
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Content URLDoctor's Note
This is the final video of my four-part series about the latest discoveries on tea. See Antimutagenic Activity of Green Versus White Tea; Is Caffeinated Tea Dehydrating? and Treating Gorlin Syndrome With Green Tea for parts 1-3. This reminds me of the experiment that involved rubbing what is perhaps the Biggest Nutrition Bang for Your Buck, on the skin—broccoli sprouts. For more on cervical cancer, see Poultry and Penis Cancer; and Amla Versus Cancer Cell Growth. For more on wart viruses, see Wart Cancer Viruses in Food, and Pets & Human Lymphoma. That will probably close out my tea review until next year’s batch of articles—I can’t wait to see what’s next!
For more context, check out my associated blog posts, Is Caffeinated Tea Really Dehydrating?; Foods That May Block Cancer Formation; and Why Do Vegan Women Have Fewer Female Cancers?
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