Scientists have finally discovered what all Brits have known for years, a cup of tea really can solve anything.
Well, almost anything.
Apart from being the perfect antidote to a bad day at work and constant drizzly weather, a team of researchers at Washington University in St Louis have found that tea can actually help fight killer diseases too.
The team made the discovery while researching the epigallocatechine-3-gallate (EGCG) compounds that are found in green tea leaves.
They found that this compound doesn’t only just sound impressive, but can also be beneficial to patients suffering with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis as a result of lifelong bone marrow disorders
These conditions cause something called light chain amyloidosis, in which parts of the body’s own antibodies become misshapen and accumulate in organs including the heart and kidneys.
This produces often-fatal medical complications.
In the study the EGCG was found to transform light chain amyloid, preventing the misshapen form from replicating and accumulating dangerously.
“The ECGC pulled the light chain into a different type of aggregate that wasn’t toxic and didn’t form fibril structures,” said Jan Bieschke, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the university.
Bieschke said a similar effect had been seen in studies connecting EGCG to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
In these instances it was found to prevent dangerous build-ups of plaque that have been linked to causing dementia.