Green Tea & EGCG May Help Prevent Autoimmune Diseases

[Guest guest]

Source: Medical College of

Georgia Date: April 20, 2007

Green tea may help protect

against autoimmune disease, Medical College of

Georgia researchers say.

Dr Hsu and colleagues found that green tea may help

protect against autoimmune disease.

Researchers

studied an animal model for type I diabetes and primary Sjogren’s Syndrome, which damages the glands

that produce tears and saliva. They

found significantly less salivary gland damage

in a group treated with green tea extract, suggesting a reduction of the Sjogren’s symptom commonly referred to as dry

mouth. Dry mouth can also be caused by certain

drugs, radiation and other diseases.

Approximately 30 percent of elderly Americans suffer from degrees

of dry mouth, says Dr. Hsu, a researcher in the MCG School of

Dentistry and lead investigator on the study. Only 5 percent of the elderly in China, where green tea is widely consumed, suffer from the

problem.

“Since it is an

autoimmune disease, Sjogren’s Syndrome

causes the body to attack itself and produce extra antibodies that

mistakenly target the salivary and lacrimal

glands,” he says. There is no cure or prevention for Sjogren’s Syndrome. 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

already know that one component of green tea

– EGCG – helps suppress inflammation, according to Dr. Hsu. " So, we suspected that green tea would suppress

the inflammatory response of this disease. Those

treated with the green tea extract beginning at

three weeks, showed significantly less damage to those glands over

time.”

Researchers also suspect that

the EGCG in green tea can turn on the body’s defense system against

TNF-alpha – a group of proteins and molecules involved in systemic

inflammation. TNF-alpha, which is produced by white blood cells, can reach out to target and kill

cells. “The salivary gland cells

treated with EGCG had much fewer signs of cell death caused by

TNF-alpha,” Dr. Hsu says. “We

don’t yet know exactly how EGCG makes that happen. That

will require further study. In some ways, this

study gives us more questions than answers.”

These results, published in

a recent issue of Autoimmunity, reinforced findings of a 2005 study

showing a similar phenomenon in a Petrie dish, Dr. Hsu says. Further study could

help determine green tea’s protective role

in other autoimmune diseases, including lupus, psoriasis, scleroderma and rheumatoid arthritis, he says.

Barb in Texas - Together in the Fight, Whatever it Takes!

Son Ken (32) UC 91 - PSC 99 Listed 7/21 @ Baylor Dallas