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Green Tea
and Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a painful condition that occurs
when fragments of the tissue that lines the uterus (the endometrium)
find their way outside of the organ and begin to grow on the ovaries,
fallopian tubes, bladder, bowel or other structures in the pelvic
cavity. Then, even though these endometrial implants have found new
“homes,” they continue to behave the way they would inside the uterus,
meaning they build up, break down and bleed on a monthly basis. This
monthly bleeding can irritate a woman’s body and cause symptoms like
chronic pelvic pain, pain during premenstrual and menstrual phases,
infertility, and pain with intercourse.
In order for the endometrial implants to survive once
they’re outside the uterus, they must develop new blood vessels (a process is
called angiogenesis) so they can tap into the blood supply of nearby tissues.
Since it’s been well established that green tea’s EGCg has powerful anti-angiogenic
properties, researchers wanted to find out if it could also help fight
endometriosis.
They took endometrial implants from human patients and
transplanted them into mice, then randomly treated the mice with EGCg, vitamin E
or saline for two weeks. In the saline group, the endometrial implants did
develop new blood vessels and the implants were firmly attached to adjacent
tissues. But in the EGCg group, there was much less angiogenesis, and the blood
vessels that developed were smaller and less dense. No differences were seen
with the vitamin E treatment.
The researchers concluded that EGCg significantly inhibits
the development of experimental endometriosis through its anti-angiogenic
effects.
Xu H, Lui WT, Chu CY, et al. Anti-angiogenic effects of green tea
catechin on an experimental endometriosis mouse model. Human Reprod
2009;24(3):608-18.
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Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
GreenTeaLibrary.com, the most
comprehensive collection of scientific information describing the
health benefits of green tea.
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