In the winter month’s people tend to get more colds and flu, including children. If you don’t want to be stuck in bed this festive season or have your child’s holiday spoilt by illness and you don’t want to inject him with vaccines containing thimerosal, chick embryos, formaldehyde and other ‘nasties’ you could consider giving everyone green tea.
Research conducted in Japan by the University of Shizuoka School Of Pharmaceutical Sciences and published in the American Journal of Nutrition found that green tea had the potential to prevent flu in school children.
The authors wrote:
‘Green tea is known to contain antiviral components that prevent influenza infection.’
They surveyed over 2,000 children aged between six years old and 13 years old. Cases of flu were confirmed with an antigen test so that the researchers knew they were definitely dealing with flu and not a flu-like virus. The surveys and tests were carried out during the 2008 and 2009 flu seasons and included cases of H1N1 ‘swine’ flu.
They found that those children who drank green tea six or seven days per week had a 40% lower incidence of flu than those who consumed it less than three times a week and if the children drank three to five cups every day (up to 35 cups a week) they had a 48% decline in flu.
The authors concluded:
‘Our findings thus suggest that the consumption of 1–5 cups/d of green tea may prevent influenza infection in children.’
Green Tea Stops the Flu Virus Living in Your Nose
Other research from the Center for Environmental Medicine at North Carolina University found thatepigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an extract in green tea, could reduce the amount of influenza virus that entered the body through the nose due to its anti-viral activities. It also stopped it from being replicated in the nasal passages.
Since you can spread the flu to others by sneezing and expelling the harboring virus from your nose, drinking green tea may prevent transmission of flu to your close contacts due to the fact that it suppresses replication of the virus in the nasal passages.
Green Tea and Caffeine
One thing to consider when choosing green tea to prevent flu is that it contains caffeine, which you may not want to give to a young baby or drink when you are breast feeding. If you have a hyperactive child, caffeine could potentially cause him to be more hyperactive as it wakes you up and gives you energy. If using green tea you could use a quantity at the lower end of the scale (three times a week) or pick a decaffeinated variety. However, decaffeinated green tea contains slightly less anti-oxidant than caffeinated green tea so it is not known whether this is as effective at preventing flu and other illnesses.
Sources:
Green Tea Consumption Is Inversely Associated with the Incidence of Influenza Infection among Schoolchildren in a Tea Plantation Area of Japan, J. Nutr. October 1, 2011 jn.110.137547.
Nrf2 expression modifies influenza A entry and replication in nasal epithelial cells, Free Radic Biol Med. 2011 Jul 15;51(2):444-53.
Catechin content of 18 teas and a green tea extract supplement correlates with the antioxidant capacity, Nutr Cancer. 2003;45(2):226-35.
Joanna Karpasea-Jones - I have been a health writer since 1997 when I published my own newsletter, SHOTS. I have written 2 books on childhood health, and write ...
