Green tea extract blocks formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease
March 8, 2013
(Credit: University of Michigan)
Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new potential benefit of a molecule in green tea: preventing the misfolding of specific proteins in the brain.
U-M Life Sciences Institute faculty member Mi Hee Lim and an interdisciplinary team of researchers used green tea extract to control the generation of metal-associated amyloid-β aggregates associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the lab.
The specific molecule in green tea, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, also known as EGCG, prevented aggregate formation and broke down existing aggregate structures in the proteins that contained metals — specifically copper, iron and zinc.
While many researchers are investigating small molecules and metal-associated amyloids, most are looking from a limited perspective, said Lim, assistant professor of chemistry and research assistant professor at the Life Sciences Institute.
“But we believe you have to have a lot of approaches working together, because the brain is very complex,” she said. Her team’s next step is to “tweak” the molecule and then test its ability to interfere with plaque formation in fruit flies.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative, American Heart Association, and a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation
Comments (30)
by Ian Clarke
Well, I’ve already given up coffee, so I might as well give green tea a try (I think it was the sweaty sock review which finally sold it to me).
by deb Chappell
We get the highest quality green tea as a capsule. 2 capsules is like having 14 cups of green tea a day without the caffeine. And you then don’t have to worry about taste and the efficacy of the product. Happy to share.
by SmartAndSober
Yes. Caffeine for me, right now, must be avoided.
Will start taking the capsules.
by Derek
Green tea tastes awful. It tastes like someone mixed water and leaves–who does crap like that? Probably the same person who came up with circumcision.
That being said, I force myself to have some every day (tea, that is, not circumcision).
by trakk
You could try adding some milk to it……..tea that is, not circumcision :)
by Ignatius
Unfortunately it has been shown that milk diminshes the activity of EGCG
by Jim Mooney
I know everyone likes to focus on green tea because it’s the grail of health addicts and “so special,” but I wonder if this is in regular tea? It always seems to be the case that the normal stuff we use is neglected or dissed for worse-tasting or more expensive products.
by Julius
You don’t know much about tea if you think green tea does not taste great or is more expensive than ‘the normal stuff we use’ (whatever you even mean by that?). Try visiting a good normal priced Asian toko and get yourself some education on tea please. Geez. The best, tastiest and healthiest green teas are really cheap. Delicious AND healthy. Be prepared to experiment and try out some teas like you do with different coffees, you’ll be amazed on what you’ll find.
by trakk
Even regular tea is healthy though not as much as green tea, but still. Its the sugar people add in it that makes it unhealthy/seem unhealthy to some. But as long as sugar is kept to a minimum ( not exceeding half a spoon a cup) its okay.
by trakk
…….we sound like a bunch of bored housewives!
by Zach Zenor
Try Stevia.
by Sherrie
I like the idea of using natural ingredients anf also u nderstand that anything “artificial” is, ultimately the rearranging of things natural.
Qs for unpleasant smells and such–try different brands, using filtered water and perhaps different pots or kettles for boiling the water. teas prepared from loose leaves in china pots and strained through filters can taste very different from those prepared in cups using tap water boiled in kettles.
by Anony
There’s no such thing as natural compounds, extracting them from green tea or syntesizing them from other compounds is the same thing.
by SmartAndSober
RE also u nderstand that anything “artificial” is, ultimately the rearranging of things natural.
That is right. I agree. We should realize that not everything natural is “optimal” and that our modern technologies, which greatly improve our lives, are heavily artificial (very different from the “natural structures” they are made of).
I believe a “tea-machine” can achieve the “special pot taste” many people desire in their teas.
by Robert Muir
I don’t like the taste of green tea either, so I use green tea extract in capsule form. About 200mg, twice a day.
http://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Green-Tea-Fat-Burner/dp/B004WJ4W3G/ref=pd_sim_hpc_5
by acuvox
In Nature it is never one answer, one molecule, one individual or one species. The molecules we know as vitamins – unique things our body needs but can’t make – used to have alternatives which we eliminated from our eco-system aeons ago in our ignorance, which is being continued by posts like this. The methods of mineral science that have been so successful in the extractive, unsustainable, mining based economy have to end with a fundamental shift in acquiring knowledge. We were never really the masters of our world and we have to take a seat at the foot of Nature and listen, rather than poking and prodding her to do our bidding. The biologic world is far too complex for deterministic methods, with common genetic problems expanding into permutations so enormous they exceed astronomical scale by a thousand orders of magnitude and are innumerable in the lifetime of the physical universe.
by Dennis R.
I don’t think we were around aeons ago so perhaps someone else eliminated alternatives to vitamins from our eco-system. And I’m not sure what you’re measuring when referring to astronomical scale, but a thousand orders of magnitude is a pretty large leap. I don’t doubt our species has had some significant impact on our planet and our species. I do think your numbers are questionable though.
by SmartAndSober
By the time Quantum Computers become advanced (which I believe will happen within this decade, or at most by 2020s), computing 1000 orders of magnitude the astronomical scale will be within our reach.
By the way, “astronomical scale” is an unclear expression. Please explain.
by Jack Reeve
Boiling water kills harmful bacteria strains. Vitamin C cures/prevents scurvy. Penicillin mold kills harmful bacteria. Vaccines cure smallpox and polio. Quitting smoking causes cancer rates to plummet. My point is that we learn, and our learning accelerates. Complexity is a challenge – but it is being met. Weather forecasts now are routinely 10 day prognostications. Way more fun being an informed optimist – but that’s just me.
by SmartAndSober
That’s right. I appreciate your comment.
Whenever anti-progress mumble-jumbler comes in, we need someone to provide a *facts-list*.
A facts-list is the best way to restore our faith in science and reason.
by SmartAndSober
Way more fun being an informed optimist – but that’s just me.
I agree, and it will be better if you can also contribute (to the scientific/technological progress), too.
The BOINC (boinc.berkeley.edu) online distributed computing for scientific researchs and other similar projects are places where we laypeople can contribute. I am right now a participant and hope everyone on the Net can join too.
by trakk
Have some tea!
by gaoptimize
I wish green tea didn’t kind of smell and taste like dirty socks smell. With my luck, EGCG is probably what makes itsmell and taste like that.
by Gorden Russell
Maybe you’re boiling your teabags too long, gaoptimize. I drink cup after cup, all day long, and never noticed that. I just use artificial sweetener, since I am already fat enough and don’t need to drink more calories. But maybe if you sweetened your tea with clover honey, you wouldn’t think of dirty socks. There are healthful compounds in honey as well, so if you don’t worry about your weight, go with the honey.
by Knute
Artificial sweeteners have dangerous properties in them.
by Jack Reeve
Try Stevia
by Mustang55
You’re not supposed to boil green tea. That’s why it smells and tastes like crap.
by JohnK
Only steep your tea for 2-3 minutes. Longer and you get that bitter taste
by Bob Vasquez
Use a different pot to boil your tea water; not the one where you clean your socks.
by puusee
Has anyone ever investigated the effect of a solution of dirty socks on Alzheimer’s or cancer? I think not. See Polluted Ganga still has medicinal qualities: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/24504/polluted-ganga-still-has-medicinal.html