--- Patrick Low <plbizaft@...> wrote: >
From: "Patrick Low" <plbizaft@...>
> To: "Velu" <velu8@...>, "Yah Hui Tan"
> <yahui_sg@...>
> Subject: Tea fights infection!
> Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:33:10 +0800
>
> Message
> Tea fights infection!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A cup of tea may be germs' new enemy
> Study finds tea sharpens body's defense
> against infection
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) --An ordinary cup of tea may
> be a powerful infection fighter, a study suggests.
>
> Researchers report in the Proceedings of the
> National Academy of Sciences that they have found in
> tea a chemical that boosts the body's defense
> fivefold against disease.
>
> They said the chemical primes immune system
> cells to attack bacteria, viruses and fungi and
> could, perhaps, be turned into a disease-fighting
> drug someday.
>
> Dr. Jack F. Bukowski of Brigham and Women's
> Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School said
> Monday that he and his co-authors isolated the
> chemical in the laboratory and then proved with a
> group of volunteers that it did protect against
> germs.
>
> "We worked out the molecular aspects of this
> tea component in the test tube and then tested it on
> a small number of people to see if it actually
> worked in human beings," said Bukowski. The results,
> he said, gave clear proof that five cups of tea a
> day sharpened the body's defenses against disease.
>
> Penny Kris-Etherton, a nutrition specialist at
> Pennsylvania State University, said Bukowski's study
> adds to a growing body of evidence that tea is an
> effective disease fighter.
>
> "This is potentially a very significant
> finding," she said. "We're seeing multiple benefits
> from tea."
>
> But she said the work needs to be confirmed in
> a much larger study, involving more people.
>
> Infection protection
> In the study, Bukowski and his co-authors
> isolated from ordinary black tea a substance called
> L-theanine. He said the substance is found as well
> in green and oolong tea, which also are processed
> from traditional tea tree leaves.
>
> Bukowski said L-theanine is broken down in the
> liver to ethylamine, a molecule that primes the
> response of an immune blood cell called the
> gamma-delta T cell.
>
> "We know from other studies that these
> gamma-delta T cells in the blood are the first line
> of defense against many types of bacteria, viral,
> fungal and parasitic infections," he said. "They
> even have some anti-tumor activity."
>
> The T cells prompt the secretion of
> interferon, a key part of the body's chemical
> defense against infection, Bukowski said.
>
> "We know from mouse studies that if you boost
> this part of the immune system it can protect
> against infection," he said.
>
> To further test the finding, the researchers
> had 11 volunteers drink five cups a day of tea, and
> 10 others drink coffee. Before the test began, they
> drew blood samples from all 21 test subjects.
>
> After four weeks, they took more blood from
> the tea drinkers and then exposed that blood to the
> bacteria called E-coli. Bukowski said the immune
> cells in the specimens secreted five times more
> interferon than did blood cells from the same
> subjects before the weeks of tea drinking. Blood
> tests and bacteria challenges showed there was no
> change in the interferon levels of the coffee
> drinkers, he said.
>
> Bukowski said it may be possible to further
> isolate and refine L-theanine from tea and use that
> as a drug to boost the infection defense of the
> body.
>
> The health effects of tea have been
> extensively studied. It has been linked to lower
> heart disease and cancer risk through the action of
> flavonoids, a type of antioxidant. Other studies
> have linked tea to helping combat osteoporosis, the
> brittle bone disease, and to relieving some allergy
> symptoms.
>
>
>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All
> rights reserved. This material may not be published,
> broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> ATTACHMENT part 2 image/jpeg
name=story.tea.germs.jpg


> ATTACHMENT part 3 image/gif name=spacer.gif


=====
Saravanan (Velu)
Love All & Serve All

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Promote your business from just $5 a month!
http://sg.biztools.yahoo.com