tea-1
ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2010) — Scientists
have confirmed that the healthful substances found in green tea -- renowned for
their powerful antioxidant and disease-fighting properties -- do penetrate into
tissues of the eye. Their new report, the first documenting how the lens,
retina, and other eye tissues absorb these substances, raises the possibility
that green tea may protect against glaucoma and other common eye diseases.
It appears in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Chi Pui Pang and colleagues point out that so-called green tea "catechins" have been among a number of antioxidants thought capable of protecting the eye. Those include vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, and zeaxanthin. Until now, however, nobody knew if the catechins in green tea actually passed from the stomach and gastrointestinal tract into the tissues of the eye.
Pang and his colleagues resolved that uncertainty in experiments with
laboratory rats that drank green tea. Analysis of eye tissues showed beyond a
doubt that eye structures absorbed significant amounts of individual catechins.
The retina, for example, absorbed the highest levels of gallocatechin, while the
aqueous humor tended to absorb epigallocatechin. The effects of green tea
catechins in reducing harmful oxidative stress in the eye lasted for up to 20
hours. "Our results indicate that green tea consumption could benefit the eye
against oxidative stress," the report concludes.
Journal Reference:
- Chu et al. Green Tea Catechins and Their Oxidative Protection in the Rat Eye. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010; 58 (3): 1523 DOI: 10.1021/jf9032602
