Green Tea for All Disease

Green Tea May Help Prevent Autoimmune Disease



By ruth

Results from an animal trial suggest that green tea may help prevent autoimmune diseases such as , a chronic disease in which white blood cells attack the moisture-producing glands that produce tears and saliva.

Researchers studied the salivary glands of the water-consuming group and a green tea extract-consuming group to look for inflammation and the number of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cells that gather at sites of inflammation to fend off foreign cells.

The group treated with green tea had significantly fewer lymphocytes, Dr. Hsu says. Their blood also showed lower levels of autoantibodies, protein weapons produced when the immune system attacks itself, he says.

Researchers believe that epigallo-catechin-3 gallate (ECGC), a compound found in green tea, helps suppress inflammation, and protects against TNF-alpha, a group of proteins and molecules involved in systemic inflammation

Green Tea Compound May Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

By ruth

Soon, green tea is going to be a panacea for all diseases, I think. Because of its content, green tea has been demonstrated to have potentials in preventing or treating autoimmune diseases,HIV infection, cancer, and others.
A new study also suggests that EGCG may also provide therapeutic benefits to people with rheumatoid arthritis.

The researchers looked at whether the green tea compound has the capability to block the activity of two potent molecules, IL-6 and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which also are actively involved in causing bone erosion in the joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis.

In untreated cells, a sequence of molecular events occurred that resulted in production of the bone-destructive molecules. But the scientists found that pre-incubation with EGCG was capable of inhibiting the production of these molecules. EGCG also inhibited the production of prostaglandin E2, a hormone-like substance that causes inflammation in the joints.

Of course, this study, having used cell models, is still far from conclusive. Similar therapeutic or preventive effects will still have to be demonstrated in animal, and subsequently, human trials.

Green Tea May Cut Death Risks

By ruth

Considering the various diseases green tea can protect us from, is it any wonder if drinking green tea reduces our risks of dying due to these diseases?
An 11-year study monitoring more than 40 thousand Japanese adults showed that consumption of 5 or more cups of green tea per day led to lower risk of death in general and to cardiovascular disease, in particular.

These inverse associations of all-cause and CVD mortality were stronger among women, although the inverse association for green tea consumption was observed in both sexes. In women, compared with those who consumed less than 1 cup/d of green tea, those who consumed 5 or more cups/d had a 31 percent lower risk of CVD death.

When it comes to cancer, however, they found no significant association between green tea consumption and death from cancer.

If you’d like to read the study in detail, you can read the JAMA article here: Green Tea Consumption and Mortality Due to Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and All Causes in Japan.
The Chemistry and Applications of Green Tea seems to be a sound and well-reviewed reference for the basic chemistry, metabolism, and various other aspects of tea polyphenols and their applications.

Green-tea chemical offers hope of HIV drug

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Scientists in Texas and the U.K. have found that a chemical from green tea reduces HIV's ability to infect cells.

The scientists from the University of Sheffield and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that as little as two cups of green tea could provide enough of the chemical epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to inhibit HIV cell binding by 40 per cent.

However, they do not recommend that people start drinking gallons of green tea as an HIV preventative. Rather, they are conducting research to find out if EGCG or a chemical like it would make a good HIV drug.

Epigallocatechin gallate is a catechin, one of a large family of chemicals called bioflavonoids that are found in tea, red wine and many fruit and vegetables. Most are colored red or purple and/or taste bitter; many have antioxidant properties and have been investigated for some time as possible anti-cancer and cardiovascular drugs.

Baylor's Dr. Christina Nance and her team found that EGCG exerts a more direct effect on HIV infection. The molecule likes to bind to CD4, the cell-surface molecule which HIV first binds to as well.

This was discovered by Japanese scientists in 2003, but by using computers to image the exact shape of the proteins and working out the electronic processes involved, Nance's team worked out that ECGC sticks to exactly the same amino acid (component) of the CD4 molecule as gp120 -- the "docking module" of HIV -- does.

"When it binds there, the gp120 envelope protein, and thus HIV, can't," Nance said.
Her team's findings are published in a recent issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The history of HIV medicine is full of promising-looking compounds from plants that had some effect on the HIV virus in the test tube but, when tested in animals and humans, either produced no effect or only did so at toxic doses. The previous Japanese research had indicated that the same would be true of EGCG -- huge doses would be needed.

But Nance said that "physiological levels" of EGCG -- that is, 0.2 micromols per liter, or the amount in just a cup or two of green tea -- inhibited HIV binding by 40 percent.
The team is now using computer-imaging tools to examine more closely the way that EGCG binds to CD4 in the hope of developing improved molecules that will bind to it more closely.
It is also investigating the possibility of a small trial of ECGC in humans to see if it blocks HIV infection in real life.

If EGCG or something like it does lead to an HIV treatment, it won't be a first. The story of the integrase inhibitors, which has now finally resulted in the launch of a new drug, raltegravir, started when researchers looked as substances from green coffee beans.
And another drug now undergoing trials, bevirimat, was derived from chemicals found in birch-tree bark.

Will a mug of English Breakfast have the same effect? No. Black tea leaves contain EGCG, but in much lower quantities. That's because black tea leaves are fermented, during which process many of the cathechins are oxidized to darker-colored molecules called theaflavin and thearubigen. (Gus Cairns, Gay.com U.K.)

Green Tea Cuts Risks of Bile Stones and Gall Bladder Cancer
By ruth



The reports:
According to a population-based study from China, drinking at least one cup of tea a day cuts the risk of cancer in the gallbladder and bile ducts by about 40 percent.

Don’t ask me how; they‘re not sure either. They believe its due to the anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties of polyphenols found in tea called epigallocatechin gallate.
I hope I’m one of those with a very low risk of contracting this type of cancer. Or that there is some other food item, some other option, with the same medicinal benefit.