Test tube studies have found that an ingredient in green tea may reduce HIV binding to human CD4 cells by approximately 40% within an hour of drinking two to three cups of green tea. Long promoted for it’s health-giving properties, recent research has found that chemical substances known as flavonoids found in green tea have anti-bacterial, anti-tumour and anti-viral effects in the test tube.
The latest test tube study has found that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the main flavonoid in green tea, can prevent HIV from binding to human CD4 cells at levels that are “physiologically relevant”, according to lead investigator, Dr Mike Williamson of Sheffield University.
However, the study has not yet proved that green tea can help prevent HIV infection, or that is it able to slow the progression of HIV disease by reducing the effect of HIV on CD4 cells.
Dr Williamson said that further studies were planned with Baylor College of Medicine in Texas in order to learn more about the clinical effects of green tea. “It is not a cure”, he stresses, “nor is it a safe way to avoid infection”. Research is also planned utilising the purified flavonoid rather than green tea itself. However, it will be years before we discover whether the extracted EGCG is able to actually protect against HIV infection or disease progression.
He does suggest, however, that drinking green tea may be of some benefit for people with HIV as a complementary therapy and that “used in combination with conventional medicines [green tea could] improve quality of life for those infected”.
With acknowledgement to NAM May 2007
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