Promising new research indicates that a compound found in green tea could treat two types of tumors as well as hyperinsulinism/ hyperammonemia — a dangerous condition that results in excess ammonia in the blood and a high death risk.
Thomas Smith and colleagues from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia headed the original research team on hyperinsulism/ hyperammonemia with help from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
Subsequently, two separate research groups have expanded on Smith’s findings to show that green tea kills two kinds of tumors: glioblastomas and tuberous sclerosis complex disorder.
Gliobastomas are the most common and aggressive malignant primary brain tumors affecting the memory location of your brain. They account for 52% of all functional tissue brain tumors and 20% of all intracranial tumors. About 13,000 Americans die of malignant brain tumors every year, and 55% of these deaths are men. Malignant tumors invade surrounding normal brain tissue, and usually grow rapidly. Currently, the factor most related to occurrence of and survival from malignant brain tumors is age: the outlook is generally better for those under 40.
Tuberous sclerosis complex disorder is a rare disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain and on other organs such as the kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs, and skin. The disorder affects 25,000 – 40,000 people in the U.S., and about 1 to 2 million individuals worldwide.
The potential of green tea health benefits to fight these 3 deadly conditions confirms the already extensive research base on green tree’s powerful curative properties. Studies have already shown that among other things, green tea can…
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• Help beat “superbugs”
• Have an anti-tumor effect on breast cancer
• Ward off bacteria
• Fight glaucoma
The research so far on green tea and hyperinsulinism/ hyperammonemia is highly promising, but according to Smith, more work remains to be done:
“While these compounds from green tea are extremely safe and consumed by millions every day, they have a number of properties that make them difficult to use as actual drugs. Nevertheless, our ongoing collaboration … shows that there are natural compounds from plants that can control this deadly disorder and, with the atomic structure in hand, can be used as a starting point for further drug design.”
