Green Tea May Help Prevent Autoimmune Disease
Results from an animal trial suggest that green tea may help prevent autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren’s Syndrome, a chronic disease in which white blood cells attack the moisture-producing glands that produce tears and saliva.
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 believe that epigallo-catechin-3 gallate (ECGC), a compound found in green tea, helps suppress inflammation, and protects against TNF-alpha, a group of proteins and molecules involved in systemic inflammation.
This is interesting, I wonder how it relates to allergies (not autoimmune necessarily) and eczema(a condition I have recently developed)?
Still, it’s not a main concern. But if future studies will agree with this research, then it’s wonderful. New benefit that we can get from drinking green tea.
Can you eat green tea ?
Do you know if they tested with decaffeinated green tea too? I wonder if the epigallo-catechin-3 gallate (ECGC) gets removed or destroyed when removing the caffeine? I don’t do caffeine too well.