Supplement Spot's Green Tea Extract is standardized to provide a MINIMUM of 95% Polyphenols, 40% ECGC content, and 75% Catechin content.

Parts used and where grown: All teas (green, black, and oolong) are derived from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The difference is in how the plucked leaves are prepared. The leaves of the tea plant are used both as a social and medicinal beverage. Green tea, unlike black and oolong tea, is not fermented, so the active constituents remain unaltered in the herb.

Historical or traditional use: According to Chinese legend, tea was discovered accidentally by an emperor 4,000 years ago. Since then, traditional Chinese medicine has recommended green tea for headaches, body aches and pains, digestion, depression, immune enhancement, detoxification, as an energizer, and to prolong life. Modern research has confirmed many of these health benefits.

Active constituents: Green tea contains volatile oils, vitamins, and minerals, (no caffeine), but the active constituents are polyphenols, particularly the catechin called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). The polyphenols are believed to be responsible for most of green tea's roles in promoting good health.1

Research demonstrates that green tea guards against cardiovascular disease in many ways. Green tea lowers total cholesterol levels and improves the cholesterol profile (the ratio of LDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol), reduces platelet aggregation, and lowers blood pressure. The polyphenols in green tea have also been shown to lessen the risk of cancers of several sites, stimulate the production of several immune system cells, and have anti-bacterial properties -- even against the bacteria that cause dental plaque.6 7 8

Green Tea May Help Fight Allergies

Allergy sufferers may want to add green tea to their sniffle-fighting arsenal. New evidence suggests that drinking the popular brew may provide some relief. Researchers in Japan identified a compound in green tea that, in laboratory tests, blocks a key cell receptor involved in producing an allergic response.

The compound, methylated epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), may have a similar effect in humans, they say. Their study will be described in the Oct. 9 print issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

Although similar compounds in green tea have previously been shown to be anti-allergenic, this particular compound appears to be the most potent, the researchers say.

"Green tea appears to be a promising source for effective anti-allergenic agents," says Hirofumi Tachibana, the study's chief investigator and an associate professor of chemistry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. "If you have allergies, you should consider drinking it."

For years, people have been drinking tea to fight the sneezing, coughing and watery eyes that are characteristic of colds and allergies. The new study adds to a small but growing body of scientific evidence from both cell and animal studies that it may actually work, particularly green tea.

No one has proven, however, that anti-allergenic compounds found thus far have an actual therapeutic effect in humans who ingest green tea. If it works, the brew may be useful against a wide range of allergens, including pollen, dust, pet dander and certain chemicals, Tachibana says. Further studies are needed.

EGCG is one of the most abundant and biologically active antioxidants found in tea. It is believed to be responsible for tea's beneficial health effects. The compound is found in higher concentrations in green tea, the least processed of teas, than in black and oolong varieties.

Previous studies have shown that EGCG fights allergic reactions in rodents that were given the compound orally, but researchers are just beginning to understand how it might work.

It now appears that the compound works by blocking the production of histamine and immunoglobulin E (IgE), two compounds in the body that are chiefly involved in triggering and sustaining allergic reactions, Tachibana says.

The current study shows, for the first time, that a methylated form of EGCG can block the IgE receptor, which is a key receptor involved in an allergic response. The effect was demonstrated using human basophils, which are blood cells that release histamine.

Methylated EGCG appears to elicit a stronger anti-allergenic response than normal EGCG, making it the strongest anti-allergen compound found in tea, the researchers say.

Although promising against allergies, no one knows how much green tea is needed to have a therapeutic effect, or which green tea varieties work best, the researchers add. They are currently looking for additional anti-allergenic compounds in the tea.

Green tea has been called the second-most consumed beverage in the world, behind water. It is very popular in Japan, and has a growing following in the United States, where black tea is favored. Tachibana's study adds to an expanding list of the potential health benefits offered by green tea. In addition to allergies, it is reported to fight cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and tooth decay.

Approximately 50 million people in this country suffer from some type of allergy. Until studies are done to determine whether green tea is actually beneficial to humans with allergies, experts urge consumers to see their doctor for the best advise on treatment options. Among those options: minimizing or avoiding suspected allergens (i.e. dust, pollen, certain foods). Exercise and proper diets are also thought to alleviate the effect of allergies.

Funding for this study was provided in part by grants from the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activities for Innovative Biosciences (PROBRAIN).

Dr. Tachibana's associates in this study were Yoshinori Fujimura and Koji Yamada of Kyushi University, Mari Maeda-Yamamoto of the National Research Institute of Vegetables and Tea Sciences, and Toshio Miyase and Mitsuaki Sano of the University of Shizuoka.

Contact: Beverly Hassell, email: b_hassell@acs.org, American Chemical Society

Green Tea Could Halt Bladder Cancer

The active ingredient in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), has been found to block the growth of bladder tumours in rats.

EGCG is increasingly regarded as an active anti-cancer agent, although most trials study its power in tea consumption. In a previous study, drinking more than five cups per day seemed to protect against the cancer.

The new study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Urology, investigated its effects when injected directly into the bladder.

Lead author Dr J. Karl Kemberling and colleagues, from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo, US identified a dose of the green tea chemical that could kill all cancer cells after two hours of incubation.

The authors then tested EGCG on rats with tumour cells implanted in their bladders. Thirty minutes after tumour cells were injected, they treated half the rats with EGCG. The others were not treated.

Sixty-four per cent of animals treated with EGCG were free of tumours when examined three weeks later, the researchers reported, while all of the untreated animals showed tumour growth.

Green tea's anti-cancer effects have been attributed to its high antioxidant content, but researchers recently reported that it could instead be a result of the chemicals shutting down the aryl hydrocarbon (AH) receptor in cancerous cells.

Green Tea Extract Shows Protective Effect Against Bladder Cancer

A study on bladder cancer cell lines showed that green tea extract has potential as an anti cancer agent, proving for the first time that it is able to target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

The study, published in an issue of the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Cancer Research, also uncovered more about how green tea extract works to counteract the development of cancer, said Jian Yu Rao, a Jonsson Cancer Center member, an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and the study's senior author.

"Our study adds a new dimension in understanding the mechanisms of green tea extract," Rao said. "If we knew exactly how it works to inhibit the development of cancer, we could figure out more precisely which bladder cancer patients might benefit from taking it."

Numerous epidemiologic and animal studies have suggested that green tea extract provides strong anti-cancer effects in several human cancers, including bladder cancer. It has been shown to induce death in cancer cells, as well as inhibiting the development of an independent blood supply that cancers develop so they can grow and spread.

In the UCLA study ' which brought together researchers from UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center, School of Public Health, Center for Human Nutrition and the departments of pathology and laboratory medicine, surgery, urology, and epidemiology ' scientists were able to show that green tea extract interrupts a process that is crucial in allowing bladder cancer to become invasive and spread to other areas of the body.

Green tea extract affects actin remodeling, an event associated with cell movement. When a human moves, the muscles and skeletal structure operate together to facilitate that movement. For cancer to grow and spread, the malignant cells must be able to move. The cell movement depends on actin remodeling, which is carefully regulated by complex signaling pathways, including the Rho pathway. When actin remodeling is activated, the cancer cells can move and invade other healthy cells and eventually other organs.

By inducing Rho signaling, the green tea extract made the cancer cells more mature and made them bind together more closely ' a process called cell adhesion. Both the maturity of the cells and the adhesion inhibited the mobility of the cancer cells, Rao said.

"In effect, the green tea extract may keep the cancer cells confined and localized, where they are easier to treat and the prognosis is better," Rao said. "Cancer cells are invasive and green tea extract interrupts the invasive process of the cancer."

Bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the United States, with about 56,000 new cases diagnosed each year. About half of all bladder cancers are believed to be related to cigarette smoking.

Without a reliable, noninvasive way to diagnose the disease, bladder cancer can be difficult to detect in the early, most treatable stages. When not found early, the tumors can be aggressive, and more than half of patients with advanced cancers experience recurrences.

UCLA researchers currently are seeking hundreds of former smokers who have had bladder cancer for a clinical trial studying whether green tea extract prevents recurrence ' one of the first studies in the country to test the agent on cancer patients. The study is part of a comprehensive program funded by the National Cancer Institute and designed to prevent the recurrence and progression of smoking-related bladder cancer. In addition to the trial, the program seeks to develop new biomarker tests to help predict who will get bladder cancer, discover the molecular profile of the disease to identify those most at risk and create a tumor bank to aid research.

Rao cautioned that his study was conducted in a carefully controlled cell line environment and that more research needs to be done to discover exactly how green tea extract functions as a cancer fighter.

The next phase of his research will analyze urine from bladder cancer patients to determine which subset of patients would benefit most from taking green tea extract. Researchers will be looking for specific biomarkers associated with actin remodeling and activation of the Rho signaling pathway.

"We're hoping the results from these studies will tell us who will best benefit from the agent," Rao said, adding that the basic research he is doing and the clinical trial on bladder cancer patients will provide scientists with vital information from both ends of the research continuum, an example of bench-to-bedside-and-back-again science.

"I think this publication further supports the potential role of green tea in the prevention and treatment of bladder cancer," said Dr. Robert Figlin, a UCLA professor of hematology/oncology and urology and a principal investigator for the human studies. "In the end, both studies will help us achieve our goal ' to decrease bladder cancer occurrence and develop molecular profiles that tell us who is most at risk."

UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center is composed of more than 240 cancer researchers and clinicians engaged in cancer research, prevention, detection, control and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the JCCC is dedicated to promoting cancer research and applying the results to clinical situations. In 2004 the Jonsson Cancer Center was named the best cancer center in the Western United States by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for five consecutive years.

For more information on the Jonsson Cancer Center, visit the Web site at http://www.cancer.mednet.ucla.edu/.

Green Tea, Allergy Fighter?

Antioxidant in Tea May Prevent Allergic Reactions -- Green tea drinkers may have the edge in fighting the sniffles and runny eyes of allergy season. Researchers say they've found an ingredient in green tea that stops a key process in producing an allergic response and the symptoms that follow.

Laboratory tests show the compound blocks the production of two substances in the body that trigger and sustain allergic reactions (histamine and immunoglobulin E, or IgE). Researchers think the compound, methylated epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), may have a similar effect in humans.

"Green tea appears to be a promising source for effective anti-allergenic agents," says researcher Hirofumi Tachibana, associate professor of chemistry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, in a news release. "If you have allergies, you should consider drinking it."

The study appears in the Oct. 9 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Other compounds in green tea already have been shown to have anti-allergy properties, but the researchers say methylated EGCG seems to be the most potent identified so far. EGCG is an antioxidant that's found in highest concentrations in green tea, which is the least processed of tea types. It is found in lesser amounts in black and oolong teas.

Researchers say they don't know how much green tea a person would have to drink to get allergy relief. Neither do they know which varieties of green tea might work best.

But they say people have been drinking tea to relieve the sneezing, coughing, and watery eyes associated with allergies and colds for many years even though it has not been proven that the drink has an actual therapeutic effect in humans.

According to the study, green tea is the second-most consumed beverage in the world, behind water. Previous research also has suggested that the popular drink may help fight cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and tooth decay.

Until more studies are done to determine if green tea actually helps people with allergies, researchers recommend allergy sufferers talk with their healthcare provider about treatment options and minimizing exposure to potential allergy triggers.

Green Tea More Powerful Cancer Preventer Than Thought

Green tea's ability to fight cancer is even more potent and varied than scientists suspected, say researchers who have discovered that chemicals in green tea shut down one of the key molecules targeted by tobacco to cause cancer.

This could help explain why people who drink green tea are less likely to develop cancer, say the scientists at the University of Rochester's Environmental Health Science Center.

Green tea has been linked for some time to strong anti-cancer effects as well as other purported abilities such as preventing rheumatoid arthritis and lowering cholesterol, but scientists still do not know how the substance works. It is thought that the tea's antioxidants could fight harmful molecules but the Rochester team, writing in the July 21 issue of Chemical Research in Toxicology, decided to look at its role on the aryl hydrocarbon (AH) receptor.

Director of Rochester's Environmental Health Science Center Dr Thomas Gasiewicz has previously shown how both tobacco smoke and dioxin manipulate the molecule, which frequently helps turn on genes that can be harmful, causing havoc within the body.

"It's likely that the compounds in green tea act through many different pathways," said Gasiewicz. "Green tea may work differently than we thought to exert its anti-cancer activity."

The team isolated the chemicals that make up green tea and found two that inhibit AH activity -- epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) and epigallocatechin (EGC), both similar to other flavonoids found in broccoli, cabbage, grapes and red wine that are known to help prevent cancer.

These chemicals shut down the AH receptor in cancerous mouse cells, and early results indicate the same is true in human cells as well, reported the researchers.

THe AH-inhibiting effects of green tea become evident when EGCG and EGC reach levels typical of those found in a cup of green tea, said the scientists although laboratory tests do not yet guarantee the same effects among the general population. How green tea is metabolized by the body is crucial to its effectiveness, noted the researchers.

"Right now we don't know if drinking the amount of green tea that a person normally drinks would make a difference, but the work is giving us insight into how the proteins work," said graduate student Christine Palermo. "There are a lot of differences between various kinds of green tea, so a lot more research is needed."

It is clear however that green tea is the source of potentially numerous health benefits and as the most popular beverage in the world, it is possibly one of the most acceptable nutraceuticals. Roche recently started commercial production of the tea's active chemical epigallocatechingallate (EGCG), showing the industry's growing interest in its properties.

Green Tea Mechanism Discovered

Japanese scientists may have explained why green tea stops the progression of cancer.

An extract in green tea called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has been found to protect against a range of cancers, including lung, prostate and breast cancer but the mechanism behind this has been unclear.

A research team at Kyushu University in Japan report that EGCG inhibits tumour cell growth by binding to a receptor on cells called the 67-kDa laminin receptor. A variety of tumours produce abnormally high levels of 67 LR, and the receptor is thought to be involved in the spread of cancers through the body.

Writing in the online edition of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology (DOI: 10.1038/ nsmb743), the team showed that the growth of human lung cancer cells that have the receptor slows significantly when they are exposed to EGCG at the concentrations reached in the body after drinking just two or three cups of green tea.

A report on the research by Nature notes that other studies have suggested that the 67 LR receptor is involved in the propagation of prion diseases such as vCJD. The Japanese team believe that finding out how EGCG acts on 67 LR might have implications for treating prion diseases, as well as leading to new anti-cancer strategies.