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Flu is a contagious infection of the nose, throat and lungs caused by the influenza virus. Every year during the late fall and winter, outbreaks of flu, usually caused by a single strain of the virus, spread rapidly throughout the world. Because the strain is constantly changing, the virus that causes the outbreak each year is a little different than ever before. But the results of these many strains of flu are the same: In the U.S. alone, tens of millions of Americans (5% -20% of us) are infected with flu every year, causing an estimated 70 million missed work days, 38 million missed school days and 200,000 hospitalizations every year.

 

Can green tea, with its antiviral properties, do anything about the flu? Scientists in Japan decided to put it to the test. The volunteers, 124 elderly nursing home residents at least 65 years of age who had received the flu vaccine, were divided into two groups. Each gargled three times a day for three months: one group with a tea catechin solution, the other with a solution containing no catechins.

 

At the study's end, just slightly over 1 percent of those who gargled with the catechin solution had contracted the flu compared to ten times as many who gargled with the non-catechin solution. And remember, all of these people had received the flu shot!

 

Clearly, when it comes to flu, prevention is the best medicine. So keep drinking your green tea!

 

 

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Bacteria and viruses are invisible to the naked eye, but they’re virtually everywhere. And while many of these one-celled organisms are harmless, others can cause raging infections that can kill a person in a matter of days. Both bacteria and viruses can be transmitted in many ways – through unwashed hands, spoiled food, contaminated surfaces, the exchange of bodily fluids or a cough or a sneeze, just to name a few.

 

The immune system is supposed to destroy these pathogens or at least keep them under control. But sometimes it’s simply too overworked to do so, or can’t finish the job even when operating at full steam. Fortunately, green tea may be able to help.

Green tea has its very own antibacterial and antiviral capabilities, most likely put there to defend the plant against invading insects, bacteria, fungi and viruses. And these defenses can be powerful! Studies have shown that tea catechins can fight or even destroy the bacteria that cause cholera, pneumonia, abscesses, botulism, dysentery and food poisoning, as well as those that cause cavities and bad breath. As for viruses, the catechins can inhibit the action of the flu virus, herpes simplex, polio, HIV and others.

 

 

The great part about all of this is that you may be able to “borrow” some of the incredible disease-fighting prowess of the tea leaf just by drinking green tea. And it doesn’t take a gallon of tea to do this. One study found that the amount of catechins in just one cup of tea was 2-3 times greater than that needed to kill the bacteria that cause cholera..1 Just imagine what it may be able to do to less powerful bacteria!

 

(Toda M, Okubo S, Ikigai H, et al. The protective activity of tea catechins against experimental infection by Vibrio cholerae O1. Microbiol Immunol 1992;36(9):999-1001.

 

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One of the amazing effects of tea catechins is their ability to destroy disease-causing bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium, especially when they reside in the digestive tract. One reason that the catechins can do this is they're not completely absorbed by the body during digestion. Instead, they hang around in the digestive tract for awhile until they’re broken down by the intestinal bacteria. This means that they linger longer than typical food or drink and have more time to exert their health-enhancing effects.

 

But if tea catechins are strong enough to kill major pathogens, what do they do to the “friendly” bacteria in your intestinal tract – the ones that you actually need in order to digest and absorb your food properly? To find out, scientists from the National University of Singapore looked at the effects of different tea catechins extracted from Yunnan Chinese tea on the growth of 28 kinds of intestinal bacteria, both “friendly” and pathogenic.

 

As expected, the catechins inhibited the growth of the disease-causing bacteria, especially Clostridium perfringens (a common cause of food poisoning), Clostridium difficile (which is linked to colitis), and Bacteroides (which can cause abscesses if the bacteria escape from the intestines). But the gut’s “friendly” bacteria, including Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, were relatively unaffected by the tea catechins.

 

What does this mean for you? By drinking green tea you may be able to favorably increase the proportion of "friendly" to "unfriendly" bacteria in your intestines. And that could mean better digestion and better intestinal health.

Staphylococcus aureus is a contagious kind of bacteria that can cause serious infection. Methicillin is the drug that’s usually used to knock out this type of infection but sometimes it doesn’t work. When that happens, the person is said to have a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection.

 

Because MRSA is already a strongly resistant strain, most physicians are reluctant to treat it with even more powerful antibiotics because that may make the bacteria even more resistant, creating “super bugs.” Clearly, a different approach is needed.

 

Knowing that green tea catechins possess strong antibacterial activity, researchers in Japan decided to test the catechins’ ability to wage war against this formidable bacteria. They recruited 72 disabled patients, average age 78, who showed the presence of MRSA in their sputum and divided them into two groups. One group used a nebulizer to inhale 2 ml of tea catechin extract mixed with a saltwater solution, while the control group inhaled the saltwater solution alone. Treatments were given three times a day for seven days.

 

At the study’s end, about half of those inhaling the catechin solution showed a decrease in levels of MRSA, compared to just 15% of those who didn’t receive the catechins. And the decrease of MRSA in the catechin group was almost three times greater than it was in the control group (31% as opposed to 12%).

 

More study is needed, but it’s exciting to think that green tea may be able to help control a type of bacteria that some of our strongest antibiotics can’t handle – and do so without the dangerous side effects!