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Green Tea and Epilepsy
Trauma to the brain can sometimes bring on
epileptic seizures. In an attempt to find ways to help people with such
seizures due to brain injury, scientists tested the ability of green
tea’s EGC to prevent or lessen epilepsy.
In the laboratory, scientists injected iron salts into the
brains of rats, a proven way of inducing epilepsy. However, when the rats were
given green tea’s EGC before the iron salts were injected, epileptic activity
was completely prevented. 1 And when EGC was given after
the iron salt injection, epileptic symptoms were markedly inhibited.
A later study found that administration of the iron salts significantly
increased two end products of dopamine activity, HVA and DOPAC. This suggests
that epileptic activity induced by iron salts is accompanied by
a revving up of the brain cells that produce dopamine. These dopamine-producing
brain cells play an important role in the control of multiple brain functions,
including voluntary movement. Thus, when they become hyperactive, the uncontrollable
movements seen in epilepsy can result.
When
given after the iron salt injection, two of green tea’s catechins, EGC and EGCg,
inhibited increases in these markers of dopamine. And EGCg decreased
levels of one of them (HVA) whether the iron salts were injected or not.2 The
researchers concluded that green tea’s EGC and EGCg may inhibit the
hyperactivity of dopamine-producing brain cells, a phenomenon that appears to be
associated with iron-induced epileptic seizures.
1Mori A,
Hiramatsu M, Yokoi I, Edamataus R. Biochemical pathogenesis of post-traumatic
epilepsy. Pavlovian J Bio Sci 1990;25(21):54-62.
2Kabuto H, Yokoi I, Mori A. Monoamine metabolites,
iron induced seizures and the anticonvulsant effect of tannins. Neurochem Res
1992;17(6):585-90.
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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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