Green Tea

1
Green Tea

• Camellia sinensis
• Camellia assamica

2
Origins

• Southeast Asia
• 2737 B.C. First written record
• Emperor Shen Nong
• Homo erectus

3
Historic Uses

• Used historically in China for many different
  ailments
• Used as a currency
• 500 A.D. Demand rises, and farmers begin to
  cultivate tea

4
Tea Moves West

• 1606 First shipment of tea to Europe, by the
  Dutch East India Company
• 1657 Tea reaches general population of Europe
• Robert Fortune
• By 1850s England was consuming over 80 million
  pounds of tea annually
• Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka

5
Growing Camellia sinensis

• Shrublike and Grown in a Semi Tropical
  Environment on Plantations in Southeast Asia
• Heavy rainfall, 3000-7000 ft. elevation
• Cloning or Grown from Seed
• Cuttings obtained from mother bush
• Rooted and grown in nursery for 1 or 2 years
• Grown in Rows or on Terraces
• 4 feet apart and 4-5 feet tall
• Help irrigation and prevent soil erosion

6
How Green Tea is Made

• Leaves are usually picked by hand
• Leaves are steamed, rolled, and dried immediately
  and completely
• Not fermented like black teas
• Packed in foil-lined chests
• Prevent absorption of unpleasant odors
• Prevent loss of aroma
• Serve warm, but not hot, to keep medicinal value
  intact

7
Active Compounds

• The active compounds in green tea are from a
  group of polyphenols called catechins
• Four catechins present in green tea
• Epicatechingallate
• Epicatechin
• epigallocatechin
• Epigallocatechingallate

8
Active Compounds
9
Mode of Action

• Antioxidant
• With HIV the epigallocatechingallate acts as a
  block to the HIV transport protein on the host
  cell
• In cases of Dementia the epigallocatechingallate
  stops the formation of plaque and tangles by
  inducing the PKC pathway which increases the
  levels of a-secretase an enzyme the inhibits Aß
  proteins a precursor to neurofibular tangles
  associated with Alzheimer's

10
Mode of Action

• Cancer
• Epigallocatechingallate has been shown to inhibit
  angiogenesis of tumor cell and thus not allowing
  them to become cancerous. This is achieved by
  stopping the production of angiogenic compounds
  in the tumor cells.
• It has also been suggested that green tea may
  induce apoptosis in cancer cells by shutting down
  the NF-KB pathway.

11
Mode of Action

• Weight loss
• Epigallocatechingallate prevents the breakdown of
  norepinephrine thus causing a raise in
  metabolism. It may also Inhibit adipocyte
  hypertrophy and hyperplasia, and possibly inhibit
  gastrointestinal enzymes involved in nutrient
  uptake, the mechanisms have yet to be deciphered
  for these processes.

12
Green Tea use in Cancer Prevention

• Green Tea stops angiogenesis
• Stops blood flow to tumor
• Mice given green tea
• EGCG slowed angiogenesis
• Green Tea induced apoptosis
• Increases normal cell growth while promoting
  programmed cell death
• Mice given green tea over a 4 month period
• tumors suppressed

13
Treating Alzheimers

• Green Tea is antioxidant
• Mice (in vivo) had Aß peptides formation slowed
• EGCG activated the protein kinase C pathway ,
  which stops Alzheimers

14
Weight Loss

• Healthy Human Males
• 3 Groups EGCGcaffeine, caffeine only, and
  placebo
• EGCG group burned more fat than any other group
• Human Study
• 3 Month Period of people drinking Green Tea
• Catechins causes more weight loss by causing the
  subjects to increase energy

15
Current StudiesBody Fat and LDL reduction

• Two groups of men with similar BMI and waist
  circumference underwent 12 wk study. One group
  ingested a bottle of tea containing 690mg
  catechins, the second group received only 22 mg
  catechins.
• Average weight loss in group 1 was 2.4 kg. In the
  second group it was only 1.3 kg.
• LDL levels of group 1 decreased by about 11.5
  in group 2, only by about 5.2.

16
Current StudiesAlcohol and Hepatic Toxicity

• 3 groups of rats were administered ethanol. Two
  of the groups were also treated with theanine,
  one prior to ethanol, one after.
• Both theanine treated groups showed decreased
  blood alcohol concentration.
• LPO levels in the livers of the ethanol alone
  rats nearly doubled after 3 hours. The LPO levels
  of the theanine treated rats remained basically
  normal throughout the experiment.