Green Tea Polyphenols

For more than 4 thousand years Chinese culture has recognized the medicinal value of drinking green tea. More recent research in China and elsewhere has demonstrated that green tea can help to prevent a number of degenerative diseases. The most likely chemicals involved are polyphenols. Green tea is very rich in these.

Research using electron spin resonance has shown that the polyphenols are very effective scavengers for free radicals and thus probably act to prevent oxidative damage, which is a known precursor of degenerative disease.

Of particular interest to the Chinese group is the role of Green Tea polyphenols in the protection of the nervous system and brain tissue. The membranes of this tissue contain highly unsaturated fatty acids and are thus particularly vulnerable to oxidative attack. Using a model membrane system we have been able to show that the green tea polyphenols prevent oxidative attacks by entering the membrane and acting there, rather than simply remaining in the aqueous phase. The polyphenols may be effective therefore because of their ability to reside at the most vulnerable point of attack for these membranes.