PICO Model Assessment: Green Tea's Anticancer Benefits in Young Women

This report critically analyzes the potential of green tea in reducing cancer risk, specifically comparing its effects to black tea in young women. The study employs the PICO model (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) to formulate a focused clinical question and guide the search for relevant evidence. The report details the search process, including the use of databases such as the Cochrane Library and DIACAN, and highlights the importance of credible sources in clinical research. Boolean operators are used to refine search results, and the best search result, "Green tea (Camellia sinensis) for the prevention of cancer," is identified from the Cochrane database. The report concludes that healthcare professionals should use the PICO model to develop and implement research plans, utilizing resources to narrow search results for enhanced source credibility.

Running head: ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
Using PICO model to assess green tea anticancerous properties
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
Assessment 2- Scenario 2
Introduction
Tea originated in China, over 4000 years ago. Tea was initially used in the form of
medicine. Later on it became a widely used beverage during the Han dynasty. The medical
benefits of green tea consumption include cancer prevention, antiarthritic, anti-inflammatory,
antibacterial, antioxidative, neuroprotective properties. These health promoting effects are due to
the presence of polyphenol (flavonols and flavanols). This essay aims to provide a critical
analysis of the probable effectiveness of green tea in reducing cancer, when compared to black
tea in young women.
Search terms
Evidence based practice methods or questions related to clinical research need to be
relevant to topic of interest. It should be designed in a way to simplify the search for the solution.
PICO model makes this an easier task (Boehm et al., 2016). PICO is a mnemonic for the
essential aspects of a clinical question. It identifies the key concepts of the article and formulates
different search strategies to address the question (Liamputtong, 2013). The PICO model is
mentioned in Table 1.
Table 1- Key words used in PICO model
PICO MODEL KEY WORDS/ PHRASES/
SEARCH TERMS
ALTERNATE WORDS (OR)
P Population (young female) Females of the age group 18-40,

2ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
young females, adult females.
I Intervention (use of green tea) How to drink green tea, green tea
consumption
C Comparison (medical benefits of
green tea and black tea)
green tea and cancer, cancer and
herbs
O Outcome (Improvement of
Effect)
Green tea, black tea anticancer
Information source
Two kinds of literature sources are available for clinical research. A primary literature in
refers to journal articles, which report an original project and are written by experts and
commercially published. These articles are reviewed. Secondary literature, like textbooks and
encyclopedias analyze and interpret the primary sources (Stretton, 2014). Appropriate utilization
of sources is essential for clinical research. For information on the possible anticancerous and
herbal effects of green tea, the Cochrne library and the DIACAN database were used. Cochrane
Library is helpful for healthcare professionals in addressing effectiveness of disease outcomes
(Kontopantelis, Springate & Reeves, 2013). DIACAN is an Integrated Database for Antidiabetic
and Anticancer Medicinal Plants. It collects and provides a platform for phytochemicals
extracted from plants, having antidiabetic or anticancer activity. Presently, cancer is one of the
major causes of mortality and affects more than one-third of the world’s population.
Phytochemical effects of natural products in anticancer drug discovery are quite prominent
(James et al., 2013). These two databases will help in understanding the direct potential
anticancerous benefits of green tea and its effectiveness in the target population for the case
study.

3ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
Search process
Credibility plays an important role in clinical research. Credible sources and databases
can change opinion and attitudes. Critical evaluation of the information available is needed to
conduct clinical research. Firstly, all key terms were searched individually under the Natural
Medicines Comprehensive Database. No limiters were included. Therefore, several related
articles were obtained. Boolean operators like ‘AND’, ‘OR’ were applied to the database to
narrow the search results to topics that contain only the required information. Firstly, the
Boolean phrase ‘OR’ was used (‘green tea OR black tea) in between the key words, which
displayed in large numbers of evidences. To narrow down the search results, the search terms
used later on were ‘green tea AND cancer’ and ‘green tea AND anticancer properties’. This
eliminated displaying of unwanted results. Therefore, limiters or filters were used to further
refine obtained search results. It was done by filtering the search results to recent publication
dates (from 2008). After following these techniques to refine the search, numerous relevant
articles were obtained. Thus, these specific and selective results enabled precise answering of the
PICO model. The search process using the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database is
mentioned in Table 2.
Table 2- Steps for narrowing search results
ACTION SEARCH MODE RESULTS EXPANDERS/LIMITERS
S1
Females of the age
group 18-40 drinking
tea OR young females
drinking tea
Searched all items 1068354 No limiters

4ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
S2
green tea
consumption OR
health
Searched all items 4054 No limiters
S3
cancer AND herbs
Searched all items 7 Limiters used
S4
green tea OR black
tea AND cancer
Searched all items 4 Limiters used
S5
S1 AND S2 AND S3
AND S4
Searched all items 3 Limiters used
S6
S1 AND S2 AND S3
AND S4
Limiters used
Published Date: 2008-
2017
3 Limiters used
Published Date: 2008-2017
(Source- Richardson‐Tench et al., 2016)
Best search result
In this scenario, after utilizing the PICO model questions and limiting the search in the
Cochrane library database, the evidence entitled “Green tea (Camellia sinensis) for the
prevention of cancer” was found to be the best for the purpose of providing answers to the
questions in the PICO model. This review was found in the Cochrane database of systematic
reviews after searching the database with the limiters mentioned in the S6 hierarchy level. The
review contains elaborate information on the anticancerous effects of catechin, an antioxidant
found in polyphenol (the active ingredient of green tea). It used controlled interventional and

5ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
observational studies to assess the link between incidence of cancer risk and consumption of
green tea by several randomized trials (Boehm et al., 2009). The evidence was insufficient and
conflicting to provide any information on the potential anticancerous benefits of green tea.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that for any clinical trial or research, healthcare professionals
or researchers need to develop and implement a plan according to the PICO question model.
They should utilize the best of resources available by limiting their search results to relevant
topics. Narrowing search results provide better credibility of sources in formulating the
outcomes.

6ASSESSMENT OF GREEN TEA BENEFITS
References
Boehm, K., Borrelli, F., Ernst, E., Habacher, G., Hung, S. K., Milazzo, S., & Horneber, M.
(2009). Green tea (Camellia sinensis) for the prevention of cancer. The Cochrane
Library.
Greenhalgh, T., Bidewell, J., Crisp, E., Lambros, A., & Warland, J. (2016). Understanding
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Nazeem, P. A. (2013). DIACAN: integrated database for antidiabetic and anticancer
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