Mice Study: Green Tea For Eye Health

Filed in archive Eye Health , Functional Foods , Studies on April 29, 2010

© Kanko*

Researchers from Hong Kong found that catechins in green tea reduce the risk of glaucoma and other eye diseases. Such were the findings they reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The study findings indicate that green tea consumption could benefit the eye against oxidative stress, as they have found green tea catechins travel from the digestive system to the eye tissues.

The scientists analyzed eye tissue from rats that drank green tea and found that the lens, retina and other tissues absorbed significant amounts of green tea catechins.

The authors found that catechins were differentially distributed in eye tissues - the retina absorbed the highest levels of gallocatechin, while the aqueous humor tended to absorb epigallocatechin.

The study authors claimed that theirs is the first paper to show distribution of individual catechins after ingestion of green tea extract and to evaluate their in vivo antioxidative effects in various parts of the eye.

Shall we all start drinking green tea on a daily basis? Maybe we should.