Research Database
The only comprehensive database for clinical and medical research papers on the healthy benefits of matcha/green tea.
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Cognitive Function
Matcha consumption leads to much higher intake of green tea phytochemicals compared to regular green tea. Previous research on caffeine, L-theanine, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) repeatedly demonstrated benefits on cognitive performance.
Learn MoreHeart Health
According to Harvard Medical School, “lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease may be as easy as drinking green tea. Studies suggest this light, aromatic tea may lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, which may be responsible for the tea's association with reduced risk of death from heart disease and stroke.”
Learn MoreMental Health
Matcha contains an amino acid called L-theanine, which has been shown to reduce physiological and psychological stresses. L-theanine also improves cognition and mood in a synergistic manner with caffeine, and promotes alpha wave production in the brain
Learn MoreCancer Prevention
Matcha/green tea has for many centuries been regarded as an essential part of good health in Japan and China. Many believe it can help reduce the risk of cancer, and a growing body of evidence backs this up.
Learn MoreImmunity
A recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that drinking matcha daily greatly enhanced the overall response of the immune system. The exceedingly high levels of antioxidants in matcha mainly take the form of polyphenols, catechins, and flavonoids, each of which aids the body’s defense in its daily struggles against free radicals that come from the pollution in your air, water and foods.
Learn MoreMost Recent Research Articles
Author: J. KARL KEMBERLING and JAMES A. HAMPTON and RICK W. KECK and MICHAEL A. GOMEZ and STEVEN H. SELMAN
Purpose We evaluated the green tea derivative epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) as an intravesical agent for the prevention of transitional cell tumor implantation. Materials and Methods In vitro studies were performed in the AY-27 rat transitional cell cancer and the L1210 mouse leukemia cell lines. Cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of EGCG for 30 minutes to 48 hours. Surviving cell colonies were then determined. A DNA ladder assay was performed in the 2 cell lines. Fisher 344 rats were used for in vivo studies with an intravesical tumor implantation model. Group 1 (12 rats) served as a control (tumor implantation and medium wash only). In group 2 (28 rats) 200 μM EGCG were instilled intravesically 30 minutes after tumor implantation. Rats were sacrificed 3 weeks following treatment. Gross and histological analyses were then performed on the bladders. Results At 6.0 × 104 cells per 100 mm dish a time dose dependent response was observed. After 2 hours of treatment with EGCG 100% cell lethality of the AY-27 cell line occurred at concentrations greater than 100 μM. Strong banding on the DNA ladder assay was seen with the L1210 mouse leukemia cell line. Only weak banding patterns were found in the AY-27 cell line treated with EGCG (100 and 200 μM) for 24 hours. All 12 controls were successfully implanted with tumors. In group 2 (EGCG instillation) 18 of the 28 animals (64%) were free of tumor (Fisher’s exact test p = 0.001). Conclusions The clonal assays showed a time dose related response to EGCG. Intravesical instillation of EGCG inhibits the growth of AY-27 rat transitional cells implanted in this model.
Author: Rodney Pacifico and Kenneth Wang and Marlys Anderson and Navtej Buttar and Michel Wongkeesong and Lynn Borkenhagen and Lori Lutzke
Author: R. Takahashi and Y. Momiyama and R. Ohmori and H. Taniguchi and K. Umegaki and H. Nakamura and K. Kondo and F. Ohsuzu
Author: Anastasis Stephanou and Tiziano M. Scarabelli and Kevin Lawrence and Paul Townsend and Carol Chen-Scarabelli and Richard Knight and David Latchman
Author: Rie Ito and Atsushi Yamamoto and Shuji Kodama and Kayoko Kato and Yoshihiro Yoshimura and Akinobu Matsunaga and Hiroyuki Nakazawa
The enantiomeric composition of catechin in commercial tea beverages differs markedly from that in freshly brewed tea. We attempt to determine the cause of this difference by measuring the change in the ratios of catechins relative to (+)-catechin with time. When tea extracted with water was heated to 80 °C, (−)-epicatechin and (−)-epicatechin gallate epimerized to (−)-catechin and (−)-catechin gallate, respectively. When the thermal sterilized tea extracts were left at room temperature in the dark, it was recognized that the hydrolysis of the gallate moiety proceeded in parallel with epimerization. The hydrolysis of (−)-catechin gallate to (−)-catechin was a major pathway in the tea extracts that were not subjected to heat-treatment. Consequently, it appears that the simultaneous progression of the epimerization during thermal sterilization and the hydrolysis during distribution and storage increases the proportion of (−)-catechin ratio in the commercial tea beverages.
Author: Toshihiro Shirai and Hiroshi Hayakawa and Jinichiro Akiyama and Masatoshi Iwata and Kingo Chida and Hirotoshi Nakamura and Masami Taniguchi and Khaled Reshad
Author: Larisa Lvova and Andrey Legin and Yuri Vlasov and Geun Sig Cha and Hakhyun Nam
All-solid-state ‘electronic tongue’ microsystem comprised of polymeric sensors of different types such as highly cross-sensitive sensors based both on \{PVC\} and aromatic polyurethane (ArPU) matrices doped with various membrane active components, electrochemically deposited conductive films of polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (PAn) and potentiometric glucose biosensors has been developed and applied for the analysis of beverages: natural coffee, black tea and different sorts of green teas. The system can discriminate different kinds of teas (black and green) and natural coffees. Components that are responsible for giving unique taste such as caffeine, catechines, sugar, amino acid l-arginine have been determined for green tea samples with unknown manufacturer specifications.
Author: Jeong-Hwa Choi and In-Koo Rhee and Keun-Yong Park and Kun-Young Park and Jong-Ki Kim and Soon-Jae Rhee
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of green tea catechin on bone metabolic disorders and its mechanism in chronic cadmium-poisoned rats. Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 100 ± 10 g were randomly assigned to one control group and three cadmium-poisoned groups. The cadmium groups included a catechin free diet (Cd-0C) group, a 0.25% catechin diet (Cd-0.25C) group and a 0.5% catechin diet (Cd-0.5C) group according to their respective levels of catechin supplement. After 20 weeks, the deoxypyridinoline and crosslink values measured in urine were significantly increased in the Cd-0C group. Cadmium intoxication seemed to lead to an increase in bone resorption. In the catechin supplemented group (Cd-0.5C group), these urinary bone resorption marks, were decreased. The serum osteocalcin content in the cadmium-poisoned group was significantly increased as compared with the control group. In the catechin supplemented group serum osteocalcin content values were lower than the control group. The cadmium-intoxicated group (Cd-0C group), had lower bone mineral density than the control group (total body, vertebra, pelvis, tibia and femur). The catechin supplement increased bone mineral density to about the same as the control group. Bone mineral content showed a similar trend to total bone mineral density. Therefore, the bone mineral content of the Cd-0C group at the 20th week was significantly lower than the control group. The catechin supplemented group (Cd-0.5C group) was about the same as the control group. The cause of decreasing bone mineral density and bone mineral content by cadmium poisoning was due to the fast bone turnover rate, where bone resorption occurred at a higher rate than bone formation. The green tea catechin aided in normalizing bone metabolic disorders in bone mineral density, bone mineral content and bone calcium content caused by chronic cadmium intoxication.
Author: Joseph M Weber and Angelique Ruzindana-Umunyana and Lise Imbeault and Sucheta Sircar
Green tea catechins have been reported to inhibit proteases involved in cancer metastasis and infection by influenza virus and HIV. To date there are no effective anti-adenoviral therapies. Consequently, we studied the effect of green tea catechins, and particularly the predominant component, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), on adenovirus infection and the viral protease adenain, in cell culture. Adding EGCG (100 μM) to the medium of infected cells reduced virus yield by two orders of magnitude, giving and IC50 of 25 μM and a therapeutic index of 22 in Hep2 cells. The agent was the most effective when added to the cells during the transition from the early to the late phase of viral infection suggesting that EGCG inhibits one or more late steps in virus infection. One of these steps appears to be virus assembly because the titer of infectious virus and the production of physical particles was much more affected than the synthesis of virus proteins. Another step might be the maturation cleavages carried out by adenain. Of the four catechins tested on adenain, EGCG was the most inhibitory with an IC50 of 109 μM, compared with an IC50 of 714 μM for PCMB, a standard cysteine protease inhibitor. EGCG and different green teas inactivated purified adenovirions with IC50 of 250 and 245-3095, respectively. We conclude that the anti-adenoviral activity of EGCG manifests itself through several mechanisms, both outside and inside the cell, but at effective drug concentrations well above that reported in the serum of green tea drinkers.