Green Tea Compound Inhibits HIV
A flavonoid compound found in green tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), may have potentials into beign developed as an HIV drug. The authors said that “physiological levels” of EGCG equivalent to the amount in just a cup or two of green tea inhibited HIV binding by 40 percent.
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.
More details here.
That’s probably what keeps people in china and other cultures that uses green tea from spreading HIV. Their fondness of green tea is defintely going to pay with the complete research of green tea.