At California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) the presentation of traditional Japanese tea at various ceremonies is continuing and will be held in the Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room and Garden on the lower level of CSUS University Library. In fact, green tea research as pertains to health effects and/or benefits is part of a field of study known as phytomedicine.
The upcoming spring 2012 semester schedule will include dates in February, March, and April and can be found at the Tea Room website. For information and reservations, please call. The phone number and name of contact is listed on the Tea Room's website.
Check out the links to the website for the Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room and Garden at the University Library, California State University, Sacramento. The Tea Room and Garden were named in honor of Sokiku Nakatani, a long-time resident of the Sacramento area and of Los Angeles and a dedicated student and teacher of Chado (The Way of Tea).
In the Sacramento and Davis regional area, the University of California studies both green tea and black tea for its health effects. See the article published in the UC Davis Undergraduate Research Journal, "What About Black Tea? Estimating Its Effects on Cardiovascular Disease," by Steven Santa Maria.
Even at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), there's a Japanese-style tea room in the library's basement that's usually open during the school year. Check out the Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room and Garden at CSUS. The Tea Room and Garden, located in the University Library, was dedicated on June 2, 2007.
Through an active outreach program to the university campus and the community at large, the tea room and garden serves as a unique venue for the teaching and practice of the Japanese Way of Tea, as well as a center for cultural activities related to the arts of Japan. For details about upcoming Japanese tea ceremonies and other programs please visit the CSUS library's Japanese-style tea room website.
Green Tea: Local research on health benefits
Researchers are testing green tea in order to see how it may be used to help prevent bone loss, for healthier gums and teeth, to decrease mortality, and to help rid the body of certain super bugs. But how much do you need?
Can you drink decaf green tea and get similar health benefits? What about green tea decaf capsules as supplements? And is green tea dose-dependent? These are questions consumers are asking. Also see the article, "New study on the effects of green tea on breast cancer prevention."
Locally, there are a lot of plants to study based on what health benefits each might have, such as lowering the risk of certain diseases. Also check out another UC Davis research article published in 2003, a (PDF file) based on the study, "Comparison of the total phenolic and ascorbic acid content of freeze dried and air-dried marionberry, strawberry, and corn grown using conventional, organic, and sustainable agricultural practices," Journal of Agric. Food Chem. 51:1237-1241, 2003. Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis.
Phenolics are potent antioxidants and are thought to have anti-cancer activity, according to the 1992 study, "Fruit, vegetables, and cancer prevention: A review of the epidemiological evidence," Nutr. Cancer 18:1-29. (Authors are, Block, G, B. Patterson, and A. Subar. 1992.)
How Green Tea May Possibly Protect the Brain Against Alzheimer's Disease
At another university, Newcastle University, in the U.K., more studies on green tea now focus on how green tea might protect the brain against possibly developing Alzheimer's disease. A news release on the study also has been picked up by Life Extension magazine in its April 2011 issue. See the article in Life Extension magazine, April 2011, page 19, "Green Tea May Help Prevent Alzheimer's Disease," by J. Finkel.
Led by Dr Ed Okello, the Newcastle team wanted to know if the protective properties of green tea – which have previously been shown to be present in the undigested, freshly brewed form of the drink – were still active once the tea had been digested.
Digestion is a vital process which provides our bodies with the nutrients we need to survive. But, says Dr Okello, according to the news release, it also means that just because the food we put into our mouths is generally accepted to contain health-boosting properties, we can’t assume these compounds will ever be absorbed by the body.
“What was really exciting about this study was that we found when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s development than the undigested form of the tea,” explains Dr. Okello, in the news release.
Dr. Okello is based in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University and executive director of the university's Medicinal Plant Research Group. “In addition to this, we also found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of the tumour cells which we were using in our experiments.”
As part of the research, the Newcastle team worked in collaboration with Dr Gordon McDougall of the Plant Products and Food Quality Group at the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee, who developed technology which simulates the human digestive system. It is this which made it possible for the team to analyse the protective properties of the products of digestion.
Two compounds are known to play a significant role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease – hydrogen peroxide and a protein known as beta-amyloid. Previous studies have shown that compounds known as polyphenols, present in black and green tea, possess neuroprotective properties, binding with the toxic compounds and protecting the brain cells.
When ingested, the polyphenols are broken down to produce a mix of compounds and it was these the Newcastle team tested in their latest research. “It’s one of the reasons why we have to be so careful when we make claims about the health benefits of various foods and supplements,” explains Dr Okello, according to the news release.
“There are certain chemicals we know to be beneficial and we can identify foods which are rich in them but what happens during the digestion process is crucial to whether these foods are actually doing us any good.”
Carrying out the experiments in the lab using a tumour cell model, they exposed the cells to varying concentrations of the different toxins and the digested green tea compounds. Dr Okello explained in the press release: “The digested chemicals protected the cells, preventing the toxins from destroying the cells.
“We also saw them affecting the cancer cells, significantly slowing down their growth. Green tea has been used in Traditional Chinese medicine for centuries and what we have here provides the scientific evidence why it may be effective against some of the key diseases we face today.”
The next step is to discover whether the beneficial compounds are produced during digestion after healthy human volunteers consume tea polyphenols. The team has already received funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to take this forward.
Dr Okello adds in the news release: “There are obviously many factors which together have an influence on diseases such as cancer and dementia - a good diet, plenty of exercise and a healthy lifestyle are all important. But I think it’s fair to say that at least one cup of green tea every day may be good for you and I would certainly recommend it.”
For further information, read the study online, published in Phytomedicine, January 2011, as it's the primary source for the news release. The study is “In vitro protective effects of colon-available extract of Camellia sinensis (tea) against hydrogen peroxide and beta-amyloid (A(1-42)) induced cytotoxicity in differentiated PC12 cells.” E J Okello, G J McDougall, S Kumar and C J Seal. Phytomedicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2010.11.004.
Studies are ongoing on numerous plant extracts, for example olive leaf extract's health benefits. Also check out the study, "The neuroprotective effect of olive leaf extract is related to improved blood–brain barrier permeability and brain edema in rat with experimental focal cerebral ischemia," 23 December 2010. The question now is whether these studies can be applied to possible health benefits for humans?
Researchers noted that green tea contains a group of chemicals that can stimulate bone formation and help slow its breakdown. According the the September 18, 2009 ScienceDaily article, " New Evidence That Green Tea May Help Improve Bone Health," Hong Kong researchers report new new evidence that green tea — one of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide and now available as a dietary supplement — may help improve bone health.
Green tea may help to prevent and/or treat bone loss (osteoporosis) and other bone diseases that affect million worldwide, according to the researchers. In the new study, Ko et al. Effects of Tea Catechins, Epigallocatechin, Gallocatechin, and Gallocatechin Gallate, on Bone Metabolism. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2009; 57 (16): 7293 DOI: 10.1021/jf901545u , the researchers, Ping Chung Leung and colleagues note that many scientific studies have linked tea to beneficial effects in preventing cancer, heart disease, and other conditions.
Recent studies in humans and cell cultures suggest that tea may also benefit bone health. But only recently have a few scientific studies explored which chemicals in tea that could be responsible for this helping to prevent bone loss.
Here's how the researchers studied green tea. First, three catechins (major components) found naturally in green tea--epigallocatechin (EGC), gallocatechin (GC), and gallocatechin gallate (GCG) were exposed to a group of cultured bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) for several days.
Scientists found that one catechin in particular, "EGC, boosted the activity of a key enzyme that promotes bone growth by up to 79 percent. EGC also significantly boosted levels of bone mineralization in the cells, which strengthens bones." The scientists also showed that "high concentrations of ECG blocked the activity of a type of cell (osteoclast) that breaks down or weakens bones." Scientists also report that "the green tea components did not cause any toxic effects to the bone cells."
What about green tea's health benefits that are still being researched for the tea's effects on everything from cancer to bone loss prevention, weight control, anti-inflammatory effects, and lessening of stress and even hypertension?
Can green tea also help cancer patients? See the articles, " Green tea prevents cancer ," " Tea and Cancer Prevention - National Cancer Institute ," and " Green tea appears to prevent cancer in men ." Also see " Study Finds How Green Tea May Prevent Cancer ," " Green Tea Prevents Prostate Cancer ," " NEWS - How Green Tea Prevents Cancer ," and " No Firm Evidence Green Tea Helps Prevent Cancer ." You can put a key word in your search engine "green tea," and "health benefits." Yet green tea does seem to improve bone health, according to this latest study. It's the catechins in the tea that are being researched.
There are more people that make their living from the cancer industry, including the larger pharmaceutical companies making drugs to treat cancer, than there are patients that suffer from cancer, according to some media reports. The opposite side of the debate says drugs don't give people stronger immunity. Food does. World War One mustard gas technology derivatives are still being used to treat cancer in current times.
Food misinformation and lack of disclosure are the two hottest nutrition controversy debates. The third is on how to prevent childhood type 2 diabetes. But in the midst of all the information coming in daily, one type of scientific study results stands out -- the increasing use of green tea in the USA and in countries that never before heard much news about green tea being studied to help prevent bone loss.
What does the average person do when a new study comes out saying that a food has specific health benefits, but then soon after, another study is released noting that the same food has negative health consequences? This type of debate has opened the field of nutrition to debate.
Nutrition debates include asking questions such as what health issues surround studies of soy products, homogenized milk, and margarine? Why are the ingredients in the nutritional supplement bottle different from what the label says? Why do media report so often that we're losing the war on cancer and degenerative diseases?
How does the average consumer with no science training make informed decisions about what foods are healthy for each person or for all individuals? Would the average consumer benefit by a costly test to determine whether one’s genetic signature is helped or harmed by ingestion of a specific food or medicine? Are those tests accurate? Such topics are ripe for debate.
The hottest controversies in nutrition appear daily in various popular media—newspapers, general consumer magazines, and the tabloid press. However, three equally important controversies in nutrition actually are science versus nature, childhood obesity, and the ever-increasing type 2 diabetes epidemic in children and adults. Consumers want to know whether what’s on the label is the same as what’s in the food or nutritional supplement.
According to the International Food Information Council (IFIC) nutrition/food safety staff, while there are nutrition controversies almost too numerous to mention, a couple stand out – food ‘myths’ (or misinformation) concerning the safety/health benefits of consuming fish and seafood, especially canned tuna; and continuing misinformation about the safety of low-calorie sweeteners, such as Aspartame. For further information, see the IFIC’s site.
Resources:
American Chemical Society (2009, September 18). New Evidence That Green Tea May Help Improve Bone Health. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
Journal reference:
Ko et al. Effects of Tea Catechins, Epigallocatechin, Gallocatechin, and Gallocatechin Gallate, on Bone Metabolism. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2009; 57 (16): 7293 DOI: 10.1021/jf901545u .
Drinking Tea May Offer Health Benefits, But Evidence Still Limited
Consumption Of Green Tea Associated With Reduced Mortality In Japanese Adults
Drink Green Tea For Healthy Teeth And Gums
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