Green tea may delay onset of type-1 diabetes
Researchers were testing EGCG, green tea’s predominant anti-oxidant, on a lab mouse with type-1 diabetes and primary Sjogren’s syndrome, which damages moisture-producing glands, causing dry mouth and eyes.
“Our study focused on Sjogren’s syndrome, so learning that EGCG also can prevent and delay insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes was a big surprise,” said Stephen Hsu, molecular cell biologist at the School of Dentistry, Medical College of Georgia (MCG). The study was published Friday in Life Sciences.
In the mouse, EGCG reduced the severity and delayed onset of salivary gland damage associated with Sjogren’s syndrome, which has no known cure.
“EGCG modulates several important genes, so it suppresses the abnormality at the molecular level in the salivary gland. It also significantly lowered the serum auto-antibodies, reducing the severity of Sjogren’s syndrome-like symptoms,” Hsu said. Auto-antibodies are antibodies the body makes against itself.
Both type-1 diabetes and Sjogren’s syndrome are autoimmune diseases, which cause the body to attack itself. Autoimmune disorders are the third most common group of diseases in US and affect about eight percent of the population, an MCG press release, quoting Hsu, said.
Is any other food or drink reported to have as many health benefits as green tea? The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. In her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, Nadine Taylor states that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.
Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.
To sum up, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:
cancer
rheumatoid arthritis
high cholesterol levels
cariovascular disease
infection
impaired immune function
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