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(The News & Views articles are free for the public to browse.)
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March 10, 2008 |
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STUDY SHOWS GREEN TEA IS MORE THAN AN ANTIOXIDANT ONCE INSIDE THE CELL
Scientists have been working for years to explain how the biologically active polyphenols
of green tea work inside cells. Their ability to serve as antioxidants (similar to vitamin C molecules)
does not always explain the many ways polyphenols influence cells. Also, it has been difficult to explain
the often profound affects of polyphenols on cells when they are present in unusually small quantities. Aspirin,
for example, must be in far greater concentrations to influence cell activity.
A growing number of studies suggest that green tea polyphenols influence the message system
within living cells. For example, a group of scientists reporting in the journal Pharmaceutical Research add
to the growing evidence that these polyphenols influence gene-driven transcription factors once in the cell. These
scientists wanted to understand how polyphenols steered mouse prostate cancer cells away from growing and toward
dying. They found that green tea polyphenols will temper the activity of two gene-related transcription factors
that become hyperactive in prostate cancer.
This is one more in a growing number of studies proposing that green tea polyphenols work by
influencing the gene-driven message system within the cell. In a sense, these polyphenols alter the way the
cell's genes send messages to other parts of the cell. This helps explain how green tea polyphenols can work
in such small concentrations and how their influence is much broader than their antioxidant qualities. drpaulsupdates.org
Copyright © 2008 Dr. Paul's School of Tea and Health, LLC.
See Update #63N for more information.
Send requests for copying and distribution to drpaulstea@npgcable.com.
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