Healthy volunteers were asked to abstain from consuming any tea or tea-related products for four weeks and then blood was drawn and baseline GST enzyme levels were determined. After taking the green tea concentrate for four weeks, a second blood test was taken.
Researchers found that little variation occurred for those with high or medium GST levels. But it had its most significant effect in volunteers whose baseline blood measurements showed low GST activity, an 80 percent increase compared to baseline GST activity.
"This is the first clinical study to show proof that chemicals in green tea can increase detoxification enzymes in humans. There may be other mechanism in play by which green tea may protect against cancer development, but this is a good place to start," Chow said.
The study is published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Source-ANI
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