Green Tea shows protective affect against autoimmune disorders

• Green tea seems to help protect the body from autoimmune disorders, according to a Medical College of Georgia oral biologist.
• Dr. Stephen Hsu, a researcher in the MCG School of Dentistry, has amassed a large bank of research helping document green tea's health benefits in everything from oral cancer to wrinkles.
• As an added benefit, a green tea-induced protein called p57 protects healthy cells as polyphenols target cancer cells for destruction.
• Dr. Hsu's most recent findings, which he will present June 17-20 in Atlanta at the Arthritis Foundation's fifth biennial Arthritis Research Conference, target autoimmune diseases.
• These diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Sjogren's disease, inexplicably prime the body's immune system to attack its own tissues, with often disabling and even life-threatening consequences.
• Dry mouth occurs in about 30 percent of elderly Americans, but only in 1 percent to 2 percent of Chinese seniors.
• Dr. Hsu is probing green tea's role in producing autoantigens.
• Autoantigens are normal molecules in the body with useful functions, but changes in their amount or location can trigger an immune response.
• He suspected a link because a polyphenol called EGCG is known to suppress inflammation, which results when the immune system mounts a defense to a real or perceived enemy.
• "We were so shocked," Dr. Hsu said of the finding that further highlighted green tea's role in attacking tumor cells while protecting healthy cells.
• And because of the low levels of autoantigens in healthy cells, "the immune system now has considerably fewer targets to potentially attack," greatly reducing the risk of autoimmune disease, Dr. Hsu said.
• The Medical College of Georgia is the state's health sciences university and includes the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Studies, Medicine and Nursing.