Green Tea Might Help Slow Onset of Huntington's Disease

A team of German and American researchers recently completed a study that shows epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) might help slow the accumulation of the huntingtin protein. A genetically inherited trait causes these mutated proteins--which the body cannot dispose of--to accumulate and cause toxic conditions in the brain, which leads to the onset of Huntington's disease. The team comprised researchers from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin; the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA; the University of Washington, Seattle; the University of California, San Francisco; and the University of California, Irvine. The results of this research were published in the Sept. 15, 2006 issue of Human Molecular Genetics (see http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/15/18/2743). One of the researchers, Dagmar Ehrnhoefer, Max Delbrück Center, also presented the team's findings last week at a conference covering "Neurodegenerative Diseases: Molecular Mechanisms in a Functional Genomic Frameworks" held at the Center.

Over the course of their research, the team--led by Erich Wanker, Ph.D., Max Delbrück Center--studied the effect of EGCG on the huntingtin proteins. They found that EGCG, a polyphenol found in green tea, could interfere with the process that leads to Huntington's disease in the early stages.

The researchers note that further study is required to determine whether the drinking typical amounts of green tea would be enough to have a protective effect, or if supplementation or fortification would be required.

Compounds in green tea have been shown to have a range of potential health benefits, including possibly helping reduce the risk of some types of cancer and Alzheimer's disease.