|
Green Tea
and Huntington's Disease
Huntington’s disease (HD)
is a devastating inherited illness that causes the gradual breakdown and
death of the brain cells that control thinking, feeling and movement. As
a result, there is a loss of intellectual function, coupled with
emotional changes and uncontrolled movements. Early symptoms of HD
include depression, mood swings, trouble learning new tasks and
difficulty remembering things. Although the cause of this disease has
been traced to a single gene, there is currently no way to stop or
reverse its course, which typically lasts for 15-20 years and is always
fatal.
Recently scientists have made the
exciting discovery that green tea’s EGCg strongly inhibits an initial step in
the development of HD. All cells in the body contain a protein called huntingtin,
and all proteins have very complex structures that must fold in a certain way to
work properly. In people with HD, the huntingtin protein develops an abnormally
long stretch of a repeated amino acid, making the protein more likely to misfold.
This mutated huntingtin then clumps together, builds up inside and outside the
brain cells, and eventually causes brain cell death.
Researchers from Berlin, Germany
found that, in "test tube" studies, EGCg can interfere with the misfolding and
clumping of mutated huntingtin proteins. The misfolding was also
inhibited in flies genetically programmed to develop large amounts of mutated
huntingtin. Although scientists still have a long way to go before it can be
said for sure that green tea helps prevent Huntington’s disease, these studies
are initial steps in developing a new approach to understanding and treating
this terrible illness.
(Ehrnhoefer
DE, Duennwald M, Markovic P, et al. Green tea (-)-epigallocatechin-gallate
modulates early events in huntingtin misfolding and reduces toxicity in
Huntington’s disease models. Hum Mol Genet 2006;15(18):2743-51.)
|
Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
GreenTeaLibrary.com, the most
comprehensive collection of scientific information describing the
health benefits of green tea.
|
|
