London, Oct 15 : Five cups of green tea every day can cut the risk of developing certain blood cancers, say researchers.

The much touted beverage, drunk in China, Japan and the Middle East, has been previously shown to have a host of benefits including staving off cancers, helping the heart, boosting the brain and lowering levels of "bad" cholesterol.

Now, in the latest study, carried out at Tohoku University School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan, researchers looked at the diets and green-tea drinking habits of 41,761 Japanese adults aged 40 to 79.

The participants had no history of cancer and were followed for development of blood and lymph-system cancers, reports The Daily Express.

After reviewing the participants, researchers saw the chance of developing such cancers drop by 42 per cent compared with those who drank one cup or less.

From further analyses, boffins also found a reduced risk of blood-related cancers even among obese patients "considered to have higher risk of these".

The study has been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. (ANI)