Tea Polyphenols Demonstrate Benefits For Diabetics

Important Research On How Antioxidants From Tea
(Polyphenols-EGCG) Are Beneficial For Diabetes

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) could play a role in
attenuating low density lipoprotein (LDL) and glycation
in high-glucose, diabetes-like conditions.

Polyphenols such as the catechin EGCG are understood
to make up around 30 per cent of the dry leaf weight for
green tea; EGCG is thought to be one of the most beneficial
catechins. Recent research on its benefits for diverse conditions
such as arthritis, mental distress, oral health and weight loss.

A body of research has already investigated a possible link
between green tea consumption and diabetes risk, and
tea-drinking may bring modest benefits for glucose homeostasis
and help keep the cardiovascular system healthy.

For a new study in the journal Food Chemistry, researchers from
Taiwan set out to determine the anti-oxidant and antiglycation
effects of EGCG under high glucose conditions that diabetes.

To mimic the in vivo situation, the human plasma was
preincubated with EGCG. The LDL was then isolated and
its resistance to oxidation was challenged.

The researchers observed an effective increase in LDL
resistance to oxidation; a dose-dependent inhibition of HG-
mediated long-term glycation of LDL to oxidation was also
observed in the LDL-bound ECGC.

"This study suggests that loading plasma with EGCG is an
efficient way to increase the content of this phytochemical in
LDL, which may imply favourable in vivo activity of EGCG in
diabetes," they wrote in Food Chemistry.

They observed a different mechanism at work from conventional
biological activities shown by polyphenols (free radical scavenging
and chelating action for metal ions). It seemed to possess a
"rather specific and somewhat different degree of antiglycative
action and lipoprotein binding activity."

Source: Food Chemistry

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) binds to low-density lipoproteins
(LDL) and protects them from oxidation and glycation under
high-glucose conditions mimicking diabetes