posted
Parasitology. 2009 Dec 22:1-7. Epub ahead of print
Inhibitory effects of (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate from green tea on the growth of Babesia parasites.
Aboulaila M, Yokoyama N, Igarashi I.
National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-Cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
SUMMARY(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the major tea catechin and accounts for 50-80% of the total catechin in green tea.
(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-trypanocidal activities.
This report describes the inhibitory effect of(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate on the in vitro growth of bovine Babesia parasites and the in vivo growth of the mouse-adapted rodent babesia B. microti.
The in vitro growth of the Babesia species was significantly (P less than 0.05) inhibited in the presence of micromolar concentrations of EGCG (IC50 values=18 and 25 muM for B. bovis, and B. bigemina, respectively).The parasites showed no re-growth at 25 muM for B. bovis and B. bigemina in the subsequent viability test.
The drug significantly (P less than 0.05) inhibited the growth of B. microti at doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg body weight, and the parasites completely cleared on day 14 and 16 post-inoculation in the 5 and 10 mg/kg treated groups, respectively.
These findings highlight the potentiality of (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate as a chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of babesiosis.
PMID: 20025823 PubMed - as supplied by publisher
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posted
Canefan -- I think any green tea would help. The Epigallocatechin is just one ingredient in green tea -- think it is one of the most abundant ingredients, but not 100% sure of that.
Bea Seibert
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Vermont_Lymie
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Thanks Bea, I knew it was good for us but this just adds more reason to drink it!
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posted
Teavigo or a high potency green tea extract may be something to consider. I think Teavigo is around 90% EGCG, while other tea extracts vary from around 30-50%.
To get to the levels of the study (if it even works in humans, at same serum levels), we'd need 5-10 mg/kg. An average weight person of 75 kg would then need 375-750mg of EGCG. The high end could be getting into liver-damaging levels, especially at 750mg/daily.
But 375 mg or so should be safe, so long as liver enzymes are checked regularly. I think EGCG can be found in other foods and supplements too, such as grapeseed extract, pycnogenol, etc. but at lower doses as compared to tea.
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Keebler
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- Thanks so much for sharing this article. Better go put the kettle on . . . . I especially love my CHAI GREEN. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Hoosiers51
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Thanks!
I am obsessed with green tea, and crave it all day long. Now I'm not surprised that I crave it!
Often throughout this illness, I will crave things I need. (just seeing or smelling Amoxicillin makes my mouth water...it is the STRANGEST thing).
Posts: 4590 | From Midwest | Registered: Jun 2008
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map1131
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Hoosier, isn't the body an amazing thing? If one could only listen it can tell you so much. SSSssssssssHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Listen to it's many cries. When we don't listen it usually starts screaming at us. Sending out strong warnings. lol
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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Hoosiers51
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Yes, it IS amazing!!!! Just this morning I woke up, and the very first thing that popped into my head was, "green tea," and I was craving it almost like a PMS craving. So this was a weird coincidence.
I listen very carefully to my intuition, and my LLMD does a good job of trusting me too, like if I say I don't think something's working anymore, or if I need to go back on something, he normally listens.
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Keebler
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- Just did my taste comparison between Stash Chai Green Tea and Yogi Chai Green. Yogi won me over - with much more pronounced spice and flavor. Yogi is also organic. -
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lymielauren28
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I am a green tea-aholic. It is the ONE thing in my house that I can't be without. I drink Stash brand, about 6 to 8 cups a day. Hoos, that is hilarious and I would have to agree with you - strange
-------------------- "The only way out is through" Posts: 1434 | From mississippi | Registered: Nov 2007
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Hoosiers51
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Lauren--
For those looking for good Decaf options that are decaffeinated naturally, without the use of chemicals, check out Republic of Tea. (www.republicoftea.com) (not affiliated with this company)
There is a Decaf drop-down menu at the top, and unfortunately they don't separate out the Decaf teas that are green, but there are like 6 or so of them.
The price seems like a lot, but you are getting way more tea bags than you get from the grocery store brands, so I think it evens out to be a similar price-per-bag as brands like Stash.
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Hoosiers51
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Keebler,
I could never get into Chai, except for when it's black chai and has sweetener and milk. I have friends that LOVE chai though.
I go more for the fruity flavored ones. That is my weakness! Mmmmm
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pamoisondelune
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I buy EGCG pills,;. For example, Now brand.
All those herbal pills i take --- later i find out that they do more than i knew, almost always good!
----Polly Polygonum ----or Nilufar Knotweed
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lymeladyinNY
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This is great news. I have finally found a green tea that I can stand because, in general, I hate tea of all kinds.
It's Salada Earl Grey green tea with bergamot. I crave it. I've been drinking it quite a bit this past week. I've also been aggressively treating a reoccurrence of babesiosis. Coincidence? I think not!
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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sparkle7
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Thanks Bea! I got some yesterday. I bought a Solaray brand product & it seems pretty good. It was about $13....
Not bad at all!
Noni is supposed to be good for getting rid of babesia, too.
I definitely feel something is going on with the cryptolepsis & the quina. I'm still on about 5-7 drops of each, 2-3 times a day. It's strong stuff.
I'm also taking Resveratrol. This combination seems to be quite effective but time will tell. I think red blood cells last about 120 days so you may have to cycle it for 4-8 months or more.
Just an intuition on my part, though. I'm not a doctor or scientist.
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D Bergy
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Very important information, thank you for bringing it to our attention.
At least one study finds that Green Tea also makes antibiotics much more effective.
It would seem that Green Tea should be a staple of Lyme treatment. Probably the easiest one.
Dan
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sutherngrl
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I am hooked on my 1 or 2 cups of green tea every afternoon. Looks like I need to drink more!
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richedie
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So I assume you all drink decaf green tea...right? Also, try to stick with long leaf, fresh green tea, not the store bought brands that come in little bags. They are so stale and could have sat on the shelves for weeks or months. They also lose a lot of potency as they get old. And, they get old fast! Trust me, I started my own coffee roasting business and you have a few weeks or so before chemistry takes its course, LOL. You'll see what I mean and it will be an eye opener if you try 'fresh' green tea. You have to know the supplier though to know it is fresh or it should have a date.
There is a place in the malls called Teavana that is also really good and they know their stuff.
I live in Philadelphia and get my green tea in long leaf form at a kitchenware shop called Fante's. I just get a huge bag and add some to my little steeper and the taste is light years ahead of anything you can get in the stores. Seriously. Try it, you will be converted and will have far more benefit.
-------------------- Mepron/Zith/Ceftin Doxy/Biaxin/Flagyl pulse. Artemisinin with Doxy/Biaxin. Period of Levaquin and Ceftin. Then Levaquin, Bactrim and Biaxin. Bactrim/Augmentin/Rifampin. Mepron/Biaxin/Artemisinin/Cat's Claw Rifampin/Bactrim/Alinia Plaquenil/Biaxin Posts: 1949 | From Pennsylvania | Registered: Feb 2008
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Keebler
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posted
- also of interest about a special kind of curcumin (not the type in most Turmeric or Curcumin supplements, though):
posted
Reasons why this wouldn't work so easily in humans (if at all):
!. These are rats, not people
2. The Babesia infection was controlled
3. It was only a matter of hours or days until treatment began, not years or decades as in humans. This is huge because infection has most likely gone undiagnosed and untreated for years or decades for most chronically sick people.
4. The rodents were not infected with Batonella, Lyme, Mycoplasmas, or parasites all at the same time.
5. They did not have a run down immune system with shot adrenals from years of fighting multiple infections at the same time.
6. May not be effective against WA1 (Duncani) at all.
7. They did not have biofilms or hyper-coagulation to shield the Babs, and they did not take supplements that promote the growth of pathogens.
8. The rodents did not start off slow with teeny weeny amounts of green tea to limit herxing from die off.....good thing the rats aren't members of Lymenet, because it probably would have failed if they had ramped up as is so often advised to do so here.
To sum it all up: Conditions couldn't be any easier than this.
P.S. I'm sure there are more reasons to list, but these should make my point
-------------------- You're only a failure when you stop trying. Posts: 945 | From U.S | Registered: Oct 2004
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Vermont_Lymie
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Micul,
No need to be too pessimistic about the possibility of green tea helping lymies.
If ECGC inhibits B. microti and the other babesia parasites listed, there is good reason to think that it will have the same mechanism in other mammals -- us! Rodents are used in studies like these is because it is unethical (and very expensive when possible) for people to experiment on people.
These rodents had babesia for 14-16 days, and given their much shorter lifespan and small size, it probably was a systemic infection for them and the equivalent of a longer exposure for people.
As for ramping up on treatments; sometimes that is necessary. That approach has helped many lymies recover, sometimes when lymies must work and function, aggressive treatment is not possible.
We all work with what we got. What supplements promote the growth of pathogens?
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posted
Wonder if the Tegreen product Dr B used to recommend would help? It was on his recommended supplement list in the guidelines.
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quote:These rodents had babesia for 14-16 days, and given their much shorter lifespan and small size, it probably was a systemic infection for them and the equivalent of a longer exposure for people.
Severity of the infection is dependent on babs ability to proliferate, not the lifespan of it's host. A rats shorter lifespan would not make any difference.....babs only had 14 days to do its dirty work.
quote: As for ramping up on treatments; sometimes that is necessary.
IMO it's rare when ramping up is really needed. People who read this board do it mostly out of fear after reading posts about others herxing.
Some people have low pain thresholds and are just unwilling to push through symptons of die off from abx, but that's what is necessary.
You will not find a single scientific study that ramps up the dose over weeks or months for the test subjects. And you won't see this attitude in hospitals when patients get treated for TB, an MRSA, or any other infection because this practice promotes drug resistance, just as quiting the drugs too quickly does
quote: What supplements promote the growth of pathogens?
Just about all the vit and minerals help the pathogens to proliferate and develope resistance. But just as importantly, they can interfere with abx and reduce their effectiveness as much as 40%.
-------------------- You're only a failure when you stop trying. Posts: 945 | From U.S | Registered: Oct 2004
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Vermont_Lymie
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Thanks micul for addressing questions.
I actually agree with many of these points, especially the one about people reading about herxes and becoming afraid to start treatment. I know that fear held me back from starting treatments that ended up helping immensely, without awful side-effects.
But, for someone with a raging case of untreated lyme, the herx from the first couple of days of antibiotic treatment and the initial die-off can make one profoundly ill. It is important to be warned about that effect.
Not sure though that we can say that about all supplements, that they help to develop resistance and aid the pathogens.
There is good evidence that green tea not only inhibits b. microti (above, animal studies), but also green tea's effect on enhancing bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics has been documented.
Agree that there are many interactions too, and we need to be careful about minding those and talking with our llmds about it.
Anyway, thanks for the interesting post. I am sticking with my green tea, Vit B-50 and cryptolepsis for now.
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annxyzz
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Can you get the same effect with green tea capsules? I hate green tea's taste .
-------------------- annxyzz Posts: 1178 | From East Texas | Registered: May 2009
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CherylSue
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How many cups of green tea are recommended per day?
I used to love Lipton's orange, passionfruit, etc. green tea and drank it all the time. It irritated my bladder, however, and I relapsed all the same with remitting/relapsing undiagnosed Lyme disease.
Now green tea makes me feel worse. Black tea and orange pekoe tea make me feel great. I drink several cups of decaf a day. I'm addicted.
Go figure.
CherylSue
Posts: 1954 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2007
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You should consider that G Tea is rich in antioxidants, and therefore may not work synergystically with medicines that work by oxidation. These types of oxidizing anti-protozoals include Primaquine, Flagyl, Artemisinin derivatives, and so on.
The research on G Tea says that it works with some ABX to enhance their action against pathogen resistance, but the examples that are given to back up this claim are for drugs like Levaquin, Cipro, Zithromax. These are not oxidative drugs like the antiprotozoals are.
I tried adding in some green tea for 2 months at the end of a high dose Malarone combo for Babs, and it felt to me like the G Tea was interfering with the Tx.
Green Tea does have anti-malarial properties when used on its own or with other herbal combo's, but there isn't any research (as far as I know), that shows that it will increase the killing power of anti-protozoals that work by oxidation.
So before you combine G tea with mepron and other antiprotozoal drugs, it would be prudent to find some definitive research that shows synergy, or at least compatability with them.
-------------------- You're only a failure when you stop trying. Posts: 945 | From U.S | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
The above comment from micul scared me... I am on EGCG and Quercetin per Buhner's recommendations.. but am also on anti malarials... Found this...
]. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the most abundant tannin in green tea, is reported to be an MDR inhibitor [77] and has anti-malarial activity which is additive when combined with artemisinin [78].
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