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Lee Swanson Research Update
Green Tea Extract May Be Good For Smokers
January 2010
A new study from Hong Kong shows that daily consumption of a green tea extract may slow the damage of cigarette smoke in the lungs.
The results suggest smokers could benefit from upping their intake of green tea, particularly those rich in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), according to findings from the animal study published in Respiratory Medicine.
The new study, led by Judith Mak from The University of Hong Kong, led to an enlargement in the airspace in the lungs of cigarette-smoke-exposed animals, as well as an increase in the number of mucus-producing goblet cells.
Mak and her co-workers randomly divided Sprague-Dawley rats into four groups. One group was exposed to normal air, one to air with four percent cigarette smoke, one to normal air and fed green tea, and one to cigarette smoke-containing air and fed green tea.
After 56 days, animals exposed only to cigarette smoke showed an enlargement in the airspace of the lungs, and increased numbers of goblet cells. Such effects were not observed when they were simultaneously fed green tea, added the researchers.
Furthermore, levels of 8-isoprostane increased in the cigarette smoke-only animals, but not so in the green tea-fed animals. Isoprostanes are accurate markers of oxidative stress in humans.
"These results indicate that increased levels of systemic oxidative stress after cigarette smoke exposure play an important role in the induction of lung damage," wrote the researchers. "Chinese green tea may have the ability to suppress cigarette smoke-induced oxidative stress that leads to lung injury," they concluded.
Respiratory Medicine 103(11):1746-1754, 2009
