New research appearing in the International Journal of Cancer suggests that a diet high in mushroom and green tea may considerably lower the risk of developing breast cancer in women.

The study was performed on more than 2,000 Chinese women and found that the more fresh and dried mushrooms the women consumed, the lower their breast cancer risk was. The same link was established between breast cancer and green tea.

Breast cancer risk among Chinese women is known to be four to five times lower than risk of the disease among women in Western nations. Chinese traditional diets, particularly those including plenty of mushrooms and green tea, may help explain China’s lower breast cancer incidence, said Dr. Min Zhang of the University of Western Australia in Perth, the study’s lead researcher.

The study conducted in southeast China involved 1,009 breast cancer patients aged 20 and 87 years old and an equal number of healthy women of the same age. The researchers interviewed them about how often they ate certain foods and found that women who ate the freshest mushrooms, 10 grams or more daily, were roughly two thirds less likely to develop breast cancer compared to those who consumed no mushrooms. Moreover, those who ate 4 grams or more of dried mushrooms daily halved their cancer risk compared with women who ate no mushrooms.

Finally, women who ate mushrooms and also drank green tea every day had only 11 to 18 percent of the breast cancer risk of women who consumed neither.

Lab tests performed on mushroom showed that they have anti-tumor properties that stimulate the immune system’s cancer defenses, while green tea contains important antioxidant compounds.