Green Tea Fights Disease: How Its Natural Antioxidants Work

Green Tea Fights Desease: How antioxidant EGCG found in Green Tea Is a Natural Way to Prevent Disease

Could the Antioxidant EGCG Found in Green Tea Be a Natural Way to Prevent Alzheimer's?

Dr. Mi Hee Lim, a faculty member of the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, recently published her team's research on a compound found in green tea extract, EGCG, that controls the buildup of toxic proteins called metal-associated amyloids1, which may help prevent Alzheimer's.

How would you summarize your findings in this most recent study?

Dr. Lim: 
One of my graduate students was very interested in natural products, so she had an interest in finding a small molecule that we can actually develop [to combat degenerative diseases]. We look[ed] at which countries don't have these diseases a lot, and we found [they were] less likely in Asia, in some green tea drinking countries. [EGCG] is very interesting because [it] can interact with the metals and amyloid peptides together... and then they can actually disturb the interaction between the metal and amyloids showing the conformational change of the peptide and then generating the non-toxic species.

So my student was looking for non-toxic, small molecules from the natural products that can interact with the metal and amyloid peptides that eventually we want to control their reactivity and improve the toxicity. Our EGCG studies are the first time to demonstrate how EGCG binds to amyloid peptides in the absence and presence of metal ions influencing amyloids/metal-amyloids' toxicity (structure-interaction-reactivity relationship).

So you talked about how this compound (EGCG) was found in green tea extract, do you think that drinking matcha tea could have some of the same benefits that you described in your study?

Dr. Lim: 
Well we haven't really done research on that yet... if you are drinking every day at least one cup of green tea, I think it will help you, but now we are not able to mention how much EGCG from drinking green tea absorbs and delivers into the brain. I think definitely, that drinking thhin tea every day wouldn't hurt.

When you were doing your study, did you find any other benefits to the EGCG compound?

Dr. Lim:
Well EGCG's actually a very interesting molecule... it's actually shown for interacting with several amyloid proteins in your body so there are several diseases [particularly neurodegenerative diseases] associated with the misfolding of proteins. Any of [those] kind of related disease, EGCG is interacting with the protein to make sure they are not generating toxic species... So far, EGCG has a wide range of the misfolded proteins it can target.

Are there any other studies being done on the benefits of EGCG or green tea that you're aware of?

Dr. Lim:
EGCG is a very well-known compound, so EGCG has been studied in aging, diabetes, and cancers, many many many diseases, but our approach was... let's figure it out how the molecule functions toward amyloid peptides with metals found in Alzheimer's disease. Now we kind of understand so we can actually move forward easily. Many groups from the nutrition area have studied it a lot.

Did you consult with any other institutions doing research on this in your study?

Dr. Lim:
Absolutely. I'm working with multiple hospitals now trying to see... how EGCG and the modified EGCG would be beneficial for their research.

Do you know if people read this study and they want to reap the benefits of EGCG, could you say what the best way for them to do that would be?

Dr. Lim: 
My personal recommendation for them is... if you have the choice to drink tea, drink the green tea... if you have the chance to drink and you don't have any reaction, then of course I'd recommend drinking more tea.

Company founder, Peter Sabbagh behind think Matcha's products began his journey traveling & exploring great tasting & healthy food alternatives from around the world over 20 years ago. At think Matcha Tea we believe that a good way to make the world a healthier place is to provide good food options. While this is a good start, we also think that local communities can benefit greatly from social responsibility through individual volunteerism. Profit alone is not our mission. http://www.thinkmatcha.com

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