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Green Tea
and HPV Warts
We’ve often referred to green
tea as a “steaming cup of medicine,” but now the FDA has made the tea’s
medicinal status official! An ointment containing a special extract of
green tea (Polyphenon
E ointment – also called Veregen) was approved in 2006 for use as a
prescription drug for the external treatment of genital and perianal
warts caused by human papilloma virus (HPV).
External genital warts due to HPV are a common and fast-spreading
venereal disease affecting approximately 14 million people in the U.S.
and 15 million people in Europe. Now, two phase-III clinical trials have
shown that applying Polyphenon E ointment three times a day for up to 16
weeks is highly effective at clearing genital warts. The clearance of
all or most warts (> 50%) was seen in approximately 78% of patients. The
ointment apparently works by activating the body's defenses and
interfering with some of the major functions of the papilloma virus.
This green tea
extract-based ointment is the first prescription botanical drug approved
by the FDA under the Drug Amendments of 1962, which requires that drugs
be proven both safe and effective before being marketed in the U.S. Who
knows what medicines green tea will turn up in next?
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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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