Green tea is used by some people as a fat burning supplement, while other people drink it because it is said to improve brain function and makes them. A new study claims green tea could be more than this. It may also save lives, especially patients with bone marrow disorders.
Scientists worked on unlocking the life-saving properties of green tea, and they found a compound that could have lifesaving potential for patients with a form of blood cancer. Biomedical engineers from Washington University say that the compound called epigallocatechine-3-gallate (EGCG) could be of particular benefit to patients who are suffering with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis - a rare disease of the bone marrow.
Researchers Wanted To Understand How The EGCG Affects The Light Chain Protein
According to The Huffington Post, this bone marrow disorder cause something called light chain amyloidosis, wherein parts of the body's own antibodies become misshapen and accumulate in organs like the heart and kidneys. This often produces fatal medical complications.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Jan Bieschke, a researcher in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University together with his colleagues from the United States and Germany wanted to understand how light chain amyloidosis works, and also how the EGCG affects the light chain protein, Sci-News.com said.
The Chains Have A Different Internal Structure In The Presence Of Green Tea
The researchers previously looked into the EGCG's effect in both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, and they found that it prevented dangerous buildups of protein present in both diseases. They had the same conclusion in this study in this recent study - EGCG transformed light chain amyloid, which prevented the misshapen form from replicating and accumulating dangerously in bone marrow patients.
Dr. Bieschke said that the chains have a different internal structure when green tea was used. "The ECGC pulled the light chain into a different type of aggregate that wasn't toxic and didn't form fibril structures, as happens to organs affected by amyloidosis," he added. The team is now working on testing how it works on a foundation level.
