Does Green Tea Protect Against the H1N1 Flu Virus?
The flu season is here, and every day we get reports about the risks associated with the H1N1 virus, about the vaccines available, and the precautions recommended to the public. Green tea, and tea generally, figures prominently in advice columns. Writing for a website on women’s health, Nurse Practitioner Marcelle Pick reports: “Green tea extracts rich in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenol in tea, have been shown to have antiviral effects against influenza A virus (seasonal flu) in the laboratory, and EGCG and its relatives are considered to be the likely source of this effect. In another recent study on mice, EGCG demonstrated strong effects against the H1N1 virus in particular. The exterior surfaces of influenza viruses are covered with protein-dense knobs responsible for binding to the cells being infected. Studies on EGCG suggest one way it inhibits the virus’s infectivity is by binding to these knobs so as to “preoccupy” them, actually altering the physical properties of the viral membrane” (http://www.womentowomen.com/inflammation/foods-immunityandrespiratoryhealth.aspx).
Green tea may even reduce the risk of pneumonia in women: “Drinking five or more cups a day cut the risk by ‘47 percent in Japanese women, but not Japanese men,’ Ikue Watanabe, from Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan noted in an email to Reuters Health. Pneumonia risk seems to be reduced even by drinking small amounts of green tea. Drinking as little as one cup or less of green tea per day was associated with 41 percent less risk of dying from pneumonia among Japanese women, the investigators found”
(http://health.yahoo.com/news/reuters/us_green_tea.html).
So this is all good news: among the many health benefits of green tea may be some protection against respiratory illnesses, including the flu. (Black tea, incidentally, is similarly helpful; it just contains less EGCG than green tea.)
What is not talked about, however, is what else you may ingest with tea: residues of the pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used in agricultural production. Who else besides the Boston Tea Campaign sells teas that have been lab-tested for these residues? Our test results are printed on the back of each package.
We have contacted Consumer Reports about doing a study on chemical residues in teas. Stay tuned.
