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In a pre-clinical, proof-of-concept study, researchers found that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a green tea compound with powerful antioxidant properties, could be promising for both treating and preventing uterine fibroids. An estimated 77% of women will develop fibroids in their lifetime, most of them by age 50. Black and Hispanic women develop them at 1.5 to two times the rate of white women. While many people with uterine fibroids are without symptoms, about 25% experience significant symptoms including heavy uterine bleeding, pelvic pain and infertility. Uterine fibroids are the leading cause of hospitalization hysterectomy. In addition to complete removal of the...

It's time for tea: More than 30 research papers published between 2000 and 2022 have confirmed that a chemical component found in green tea can help fight various types of coronaviruses, including variants of COVID-19. A trio of scientists including Manikarna Dinda compiled the takeaways in a review article published this month. The goal of the collaborative report was to pave the way for tea's translation into antiviral medications. The chemical compound found in green tea—epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG for short—has been of interest to medical researchers for many years. Now, the interest has grown. "Recently, EGCG's strong antiviral activity...

Research in people with heart disease risk factors has shown that consuming green tea extract for four weeks can reduce blood sugar levels and improve gut health by lowering inflammation and decreasing "leaky gut." Researchers said this is the first study assessing whether the health risks linked to the condition known as metabolic syndrome, which affects about one-third of Americans, may be diminished by green tea's anti-inflammatory benefits in the gut. In the new study, green tea extract also lowered blood sugar, or glucose, and decreased gut inflammation and permeability in healthy people—an unexpected finding. "What this tells us is...

Background Uterine fibroids (UFs, also known as leiomyoma) affect 70% of reproductive-age women. Imposing a major burden on health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) of premenopausal women, UF is a public health concern. There are no effective medicinal treatment options currently available for women with symptomatic UF. Objectives To evaluate the efficacy and safety of green tea extract (epigallocatechin gallate [EGCG]) on UF burden and quality of life in women with symptomatic UF, in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. Results Of the final 39 women recruited for the study, 33 were compliant and completed all five visits of the study. In the...

Could dietary supplements become a healthy weapon against COVID-19? Experts have shown that common dietary supplements can protect against the coronavirus as well as several common winter illnesses. Prof. Gazit, who also heads TAU's Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery, said: "To address the rapid changes of the virus, we decided to develop active vaccines made of safe and easily obtainable dietary supplements that would reduce the viral load in the body and cut down contagion. We have known for years that food supplements containing zinc can enhance immunity to severe, viral and chronic infections and their potentially grave consequences." The...

ABSTRACT: Labile zinc, a tiny fraction of total intracellular zinc that is loosely bound to proteins and easily interchangeable, modulates the activity of numerous signaling and metabolic pathways. Dietary plant polyphenols such as the flavonoids quercetin (QCT) and epigallocatechin-gallate act as antioxidants and as signaling molecules. Remarkably, the activities of numerous enzymes that are targeted by polyphenols are dependent on zinc. We have previously shown that these polyphenols chelate zinc cations and hypothesized that these flavonoids might be also acting as zinc ionophores, transporting zinc cations through the plasma membrane. To prove this hypothesis, herein, we have demonstrated the capacity...

The disease-fighting punch of green tea is largely due to its high concentration of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a substance with more antioxidant activity than vitamins C and E and other nutritional heavyweights. The other side of the green tea story: Even if you are consuming green tea, the truth is that you might not be getting what you pay for. Some bottled green teas and even green tea supplements contain only trace amounts of EGCG. Meanwhile, the amount of EGCG in other green tea–based products can vary by more than 240%. These and other findings, from the scientists at ConsumerLab.com,...

Scientists have discovered a chemical extract in green tea that can treat two types of skin cancer, without producing the harmful side effects associated with chemotherapy.While the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) compound is too weak to make an impact when consumed in tea, scientists were able to kill or shrink two-thirds of cancer cells within a month when they applied the extract to tumor cells in the lab. What's more, the chemical compound did not appear to affect any other healthy cells or tissues in the body.Researchers from the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow believe that their study is the first...

German researchers have determined that epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG)—a flavonoid found in green tea—inhibits the hepatitis C virus (HCV) from entering liver cells. Study findings available in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggest that EGCG may offer an antiviral strategy to prevent HCV reinfection following liver transplantation. HCV infection can lead to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or primary liver cancer. HCV is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease and a primary indication for liver transplantation, affecting up to...

Clinic researchers are reporting positive results in early leukemia clinical trials using the chemical epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an active ingredient in green tea. The trial determined that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can tolerate the chemical fairly well when high doses are administered in capsule form and that lymphocyte count was reduced in one-third of participants. "We found not only that patients tolerated the green tea extract at very high doses, but that many of them saw regression to some degree of their chronic lymphocytic leukemia," says Tait Shanafelt, M.D., Mayo Clinic hematologist and lead author of the study....

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An extract of green tea wards off colorectal cancer, animal experiments show. According to research reported at the Sixth International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention, sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, a standardized green tea polyphenol preparation (Polyphenon E) limits the growth of colorectal tumors in rats treated with a substance that causes the cancer. "Our findings show that rats fed a diet containing Polyphenon E are less than half as likely to develop colon cancer," Dr. Hang Xiao, from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey,...

UIC Researchers Show How Cancer-preventing Foods Work Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are unraveling the biochemical mechanism by which functional foods combat cancer."Compounds like sulforaphane in broccoli and resveratrol in wine have been shown to prevent cancer," said Andrew Mesecar, associate professor of pharmaceutical biotechnology in the UIC College of Pharmacy. "They do that by signaling our bodies to ramp up the production of proteins capable of preventing damage to our DNA."We now have a good idea how that signal works."The findings are published in this week's Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of...

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol (November 24, 2004). doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00693.2004 This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Murase, T. Articles by Tokimitsu, I. Submitted on October 7, 2004Accepted on November 20, 2004 Green tea extract improves endurance capacity and increases muscle lipid oxidation in mice Takatoshi Murase1*, Satoshi Haramizu1, Akira Shimotoyodome1, Azumi Nagasawa1, and...