Rooibos herbal tea for what may ail you

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Hi All, Only one previous post describe Rooibos herbal tea for benefits:

Item #16979 (1 Mar 2001 21:50) - [CR] Re: Green Tea & Fluoride

2000; Alternative Medicine, Nov 2000) about recent (but unamed, alas)

studies showing one herbal tea, *rooibos*, has antioxidant properties up to

50 times more potent than green tea. It contains iron, potassium, calcium,...

I seems to be that the herbal rooibos tea does great things in the update below.

Cheers, Al.

1: Edenharder R, Sager JW, Glatt H, Muckel E, Platt KL.

Protection by beverages, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flavonoids against

genotoxicity of 2-acetylaminofluorene and

2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) in metabolically

competent V79 cells.

Mutat Res. 2002 Nov 26;521(1-2):57-72.

Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts, genetically engineered for the expression of

rat cytochrome

P450 dependent monooxygenase 1A2 and rat sulfotransferase 1C1

(V79-rCYP1A2-rSULT1C1 cells), were utilized to check for possible protective

effects of

beverages of plant origin, fruits, vegetables, and spices against genotoxicity

induced by

2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) or 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine

(PhIP).

Antigenotoxic activities of juices from spinach and red beets against AAF could

be monitored

with similar effectivity by the HPRT-mutagenicity test (IC(50)=0.64%; 2.57%) and

alkaline single

cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay; IC(50)=0.12%; 0.89%) which detects DNA

strand breaks

and abasic sites. Applying the comet assay, genotoxicity of PhIP could, however,

be

demonstrated only in the presence of hydroxyurea and

1-[beta-D-arabinofuranosyl]cytosine,

known inhibitors of DNA repair synthesis. As expected, AAF and PhIP were unable

to induce

any genotoxic effects in the parent V79 cells. Genotoxic activity of PhIP was

strongly reduced in

a dose-related manner by green tea and red wine, by blueberries, blackberries,

red grapes, kiwi,

watermelon, parsley, and spinach, while two brands of beer, coffee, black tea,

rooibos tea,

morellos, black-currants, plums, red beets, broccoli (raw and cooked), and

chives were

somewhat less active. One brand of beer was only moderately active while white

wine, bananas,

white grapes, and strawberries were inactive. Similarly, genotoxicity of AAF was

strongly

reduced by green, black, and rooibos tea, red wine, morellos, black-currants,

kiwi, watermelon,

and spinach while plums, red beets, and broccoli (raw) were less potent.

Broccoli cooked

exerted only moderate and white wine weak antigenotoxic activity. With respect

to the possible

mechanism(s) of inhibition of genotoxicity, benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol

(BaP-7,8-OH) and

N-OH-PhIP were applied as substrates for the CYP1A family and for rSULT 1C1,

respectively.

Morellos, black-currants, and black tea strongly reduced the genotoxicity of

BaP-7,8-OH,

onions, rooibos tea, and red wine were less potent while red beets and spinach

were inactive. On

the other hand, red beets and spinach strongly inhibited the genotoxicity of

N-OH-PhIP, rooibos

tea was weakly active while all other items were inactive. These results are

suggestive for enzyme

inhibition as mechanism of protection by complex mixtures of plant origin. Taken

together, our

results demonstrate that protection by beverages, fruits, and vegetables against

genotoxicity of

heterocyclic aromatic amines may take place within metabolically competent

mammalian cells as

well as under the conditions of the Salmonella/reversion assay.

PMID: 12438004 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3: Kunishiro K, Tai A, Yamamoto I.

Effects of rooibos tea extract on antigen-specific antibody production and

cytokine generation in vitro and in vivo.

Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2001 Oct;65(10):2137-45.

PMID: 11758901 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

6: Standley L, Winterton P, Marnewick JL, Gelderblom WC, Joubert E, Britz TJ.

Influence of processing stages on antimutagenic and antioxidant potentials of

rooibos tea.

J Agric Food Chem. 2001 Jan;49(1):114-7.

PMID: 11170567 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

7: Marnewick JL, Gelderblom WC, Joubert E.

An investigation on the antimutagenic properties of South African herbal teas.

Mutat Res. 2000 Nov 20;471(1-2):157-66.

PMID: 11080671 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

11: Nakano M, Itoh Y, Mizuno T, Nakashima H.

Polysaccharide from Aspalathus linearis with strong anti-HIV activity.

Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1997 Feb;61(2):267-71.

PMID: 9058964 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

14: Inanami O, Asanuma T, Inukai N, Jin T, Shimokawa S, Kasai N, Nakano M, Sato

F, Kuwabara M.

The suppression of age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in rat brain by

administration of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis).

Neurosci Lett. 1995 Aug 18;196(1-2):85-8.

PMID: 7501264 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

16: Sasaki YF, Yamada H, Shimoi K, Kator K, Kinae N.

The clastogen-suppressing effects of green tea, Po-lei tea and Rooibos tea in

CHO cells and mice.

Mutat Res. 1993 Apr;286(2):221-32.

PMID: 7681534 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

19: Hesseling PB, Joubert JR.

The effect of rooibos tea on the type I allergic reaction.

S Afr Med J. 1982 Dec 25;62(27):1037-8. No abstract available.

PMID: 7179042 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

20: Hesseling PB, Klopper JF, van Heerden PD.

[The effect of rooibos tea on iron absorption]

S Afr Med J. 1979 Apr 14;55(16):631-2. Afrikaans.

A study was carried out to determine if rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) has a

deleterious effect

on iron absorption similar to that of ordinary tea (Camellia sinensis). Three

groups of volunteers,

each consisting of 10 healthy young men comparable with regard to iron status

and body

dimensions, were studied. After ingestion of 1 muCi 59Fe and 16 mg of elemental

iron, group A

drank rooibos tea, group B ordinary tea and group C boiled water. Iron

absorption was

measured 14 days later with a whole body counter. Mean iron absorption after

ingestion of

rooibos tea, ordinary tea, and water was 7,25%, 1,70% and 9,34% respectively. In

contrast to

ordinary tea (P less than 0,0001), rooibos tea did not affect iron absorption

significantly. The

ascorbic acid content of rooibos tea varies between 121,8 and 154,9 mumol/l,

depending on the

method of preparation. Rooibos tea contains small amounts of iron, magnesium,

phosphorus,

sodium, chloride and potassium. These findings have practical nutritional and

therapeutic implications.

PMID: 462276 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]