 |
 |
dearest, maybe you should learn to like green tea! love, mom At 03:45 AM 2/27/2001 -0800, you wrote: >The Jerusalem Post Online >Green tea protects brain cells >By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich >(February 18) - Think about this: Green and black teas have been found >by Technion researchers to protect brain cells and help prevent them >from dying. > >Although the tests were performed on cell cultures and not on humans >or even animals, this evidence could eventually have implications on >Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative >ailments. > >Dr. Silvia Mandel, a senior researcher at the Technion's Rappaport >Faculty of Medicine, doctoral student Yona Levites and >neurogenerative disease expert Prof. Moussa Youdim dosed cell >cultures with green and black teas and toxins. > >The Technion's Focus newsletter reports that the study was the first to >link the teas and effects that could counter a breakdown in the brain's >neurons. > >Although green tea has long been known to have anti-carcinogenic and >anti-inflammatory properties, it is also relevant in the fight against >oxygen free radicals, which may attack cell membranes and cause cell >death. > >These radicals can be removed by antioxidant "radical scavengers," >especially polyphenols, found in large concentration in green and black >teas commonly consumed in the Far East. > >Intrigued by the antioxidant properties of such teas, Mandel began in >1997 to study green and black tea (the orange teas preferred in Israel are >much less effective) and whether they have neuroprotective properties. > >Over six days she injected mice with a powdered tea extract and MPTP, a >synthetic toxin that causes Parkinsonian-like symptoms. One control >group did not get the toxin, while another did, but did not get the tea. > >Ten days later the mice that got the toxin without the tea showed >widespread cell death in the part of the brain most affected in >Parkinson's disease, and the production of dopamine, a major >neurotransmitter produced by this brain area, was way down. But those >injected with the tea extract did not suffer this decline. > >"At specific concentrations there was 100% protection," says Mandel, >who immigrated from Uruguay in 1979, presenting her findings at a >meeting of the Israel Society of Neuroscience in Eilat. > >http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/02/18/Health/Health.21596.html > >**********