Name :David Putra Pradana (103244035)

Heri Prasetyo (103244207)

Biology 2010

New evidence that green tea may help improve bone health

Researchers in Hong Kong are reporting new evidence that green tea — one
of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide and now available as a
dietary supplement — may help improve bone health. They found that the tea
contains a group of chemicals that can stimulate bone formation and help
slow its breakdown. Their findings are in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. The beverage has the potential to
help in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and other bone diseases
that affect million worldwide, the researchers suggest.

In the new study, Ping Chung Leung and colleagues note that many scientific
studies have linked tea to beneficial effects in preventing cancer, heart
disease, and other conditions. Recent studies in humans and cell cultures
suggest that tea may also benefit bone health. But few scientific studies have
explored the exact chemicals in tea that might be responsible for this effect.

The scientists exposed a group of cultured bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) to

three major green tea components — epigallocatechin (EGC), gallocatechin
(GC), and gallocatechin gallate (GCG) — for several days. They found that
one in particular, EGC, boosted the activity of a key enzyme that promotes
bone growth by up to 79 percent. EGC also significantly boosted levels of
bone mineralization in the cells, which strengthens bones. The scientists also
showed that high concentrations of ECG blocked the activity of a type of cell
(osteoclast) that breaks down or weakens bones. The green tea components
did not cause any toxic effects to the bone cells, they note .

-- News release courtesy of American Chemical Society

Main Idea :
Researchers in Hong Kong are reporting new evidence that green tea — one of
the most popular beverages consumed worldwide and now available as a dietary
supplement — may help improve bone health.
Question :
What the green tea contents so that can help improve bone health??

bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) to three major green tea components —

epigallocatechin (EGC), gallocatechin (GC), and gallocatechin gallate (GCG)

 Whether there are other beneficial effects of drinking green tea??

The beverage has the potential to help in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis
and other bone diseases

 Who the name of the inventor who discovered a new effect of green tea??

Ping Chung Leung in Hongkong

 What is the name of the main components of green tea that influence bone
growth??
EGC, boosted the activity of a key enzyme that promotes bone growth by up to 79
percent

 What other uses epigallocatechin (EGC) in addition to bone growth??

EGC also significantly boosted levels of bone mineralization in the cells, which
strengthens bones.

Biology Words:
 Gallocatechin gallate (GCG) is the ester of gallocatechin and gallic acid
and a type of catechin. It is an epimer of EGCG.

In a high temperature environment, an epimerization change is likely to occur,

because heating results in the conversion from EGCG to GCG. According to the
referenced study the resulting CGC (the epimer of EGCG) results in even lower
dietary cholesterol absorption than occurs with EGCG. While this may be a beneficial
outcome with respect to cholesterol reduction activity, for those wishing to maximize
the EGCG content of green tea infusions, it is considered inappropriate to infuse green
tea or its extracts with overheated water.

 Gallocatechol or epigallocatechin (EGC) is a flavan triol, a type of

chemicals that contain catechins. This substance is one of the antioxidants found in
food.
This substance is often found in green tea, which is gallocatechin with residue gallat
with the position of the trans isomer. Another source of gallocatechin are persimmon
and pomegranate.
Gallocatechol has the molecular formula C15H14O7 and the molar mass of 306.267 g
/ mol.
  Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is also known as
epigallocatechin 3-gallate, is a compound and the acid ester of epigallocatechin gallat,
and is a type of catechin. EGCG is a common type of catechin found in tea leaves,
banana leaves, and several other crops, and also a good antioxidant which has the
ability to prevent cancer (Pyrko, 2007) and has the ability of inhibitors for HIV. This
substance is found in green tea, but not present in black tea because EGCG in black
tea turned into thearubigins.