Antimicrobial Activity of Tea
Medical books written as early as in the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) in China mention that green tea in combination with ginger can effectively cure dysentery disorders, including those so-called red and white in appearance.
Modern medical research has demonstrated that tea and tea products are active against a wide range of microorganism, implying that tea may be potentially useful for treatment of some infectious illness.
A number of reports indicated that green tea and black tea can inhibit the growth of a wide spectrum of pathogenic bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhosa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio choilerae, and others.
Both tea powder and tea infusion are active. In a comparison of the activity of green tea and black tea against various bacteria known to cause disease, the Gram-positive bacteria with more sensitive Gram–negative.
In the case of Staphylococcus aureus, black tea showed stringer bactericidal activity than green tea and coffee.
Tea polyphenols are major components responsible for the antibacterial activity of various tea products.
The active tea polyphenols and theaflavins and their minimum inhibition concentration values were estimated in the range of 100-800 ppm.
In addition,, tea aroma compounds such as linalool, geraniol, nerolidol, cis-jasmone and caryophyllene, also display antibacterial activities.
It is of importance that tea can inhibit methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus which poses severe problems in clinical chemotherapy.
The anticaries activity of tea has drawn much attention. Tea products have shown inhibitory activity against mutans streptococci and glucosyltransferases.
Mutan streptococci that are known to synthesize glucans have been implicated as primary causative agent of caries.
Two types of glucans, water soluble and water insoluble are synthesized by two different groups of glucosyltransferase in these bacteria.
The water insoluble glucan is highly adhesive to tooth surface resulting in the formation of dental plaque.
The bacteria grow in dental plague, metabolize varies sugars there and produce organic acids, especially lactic acid, which retains in the plaque, eventually to decalcify the tooth enamel and develop dental caries.
An earlier investigation conducted at primary schools over a year has found that the incidence of dental caries among children who took a cup of tea immediately after lunch was found to be significantly lower than that among children who did not.
Various tea extracts have shown bactericidal activity against mutan streptococci. Moreover, several catechins, the components from green tea, are active against cariogenic bacteria.
Antimicrobial Activity of Tea
Medical books written as early as in the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) in China mention that green tea in combination with ginger can effectively cure dysentery disorders, including those so-called red and white in appearance.
Modern medical research has demonstrated that tea and tea products are active against a wide range of microorganism, implying that tea may be potentially useful for treatment of some infectious illness.
A number of reports indicated that green tea and black tea can inhibit the growth of a wide spectrum of pathogenic bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhosa, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio choilerae, and others.
Both tea powder and tea infusion are active. In a comparison of the activity of green tea and black tea against various bacteria known to cause disease, the Gram-positive bacteria with more sensitive Gram–negative.
In the case of Staphylococcus aureus, black tea showed stringer bactericidal activity than green tea and coffee.
Tea polyphenols are major components responsible for the antibacterial activity of various tea products.
The active tea polyphenols and theaflavins and their minimum inhibition concentration values were estimated in the range of 100-800 ppm.
In addition,, tea aroma compounds such as linalool, geraniol, nerolidol, cis-jasmone and caryophyllene, also display antibacterial activities.
It is of importance that tea can inhibit methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus which poses severe problems in clinical chemotherapy.
The anticaries activity of tea has drawn much attention. Tea products have shown inhibitory activity against mutans streptococci and glucosyltransferases.
Mutan streptococci that are known to synthesize glucans have been implicated as primary causative agent of caries.
Two types of glucans, water soluble and water insoluble are synthesized by two different groups of glucosyltransferase in these bacteria.
The water insoluble glucan is highly adhesive to tooth surface resulting in the formation of dental plaque.
The bacteria grow in dental plague, metabolize varies sugars there and produce organic acids, especially lactic acid, which retains in the plaque, eventually to decalcify the tooth enamel and develop dental caries.
An earlier investigation conducted at primary schools over a year has found that the incidence of dental caries among children who took a cup of tea immediately after lunch was found to be significantly lower than that among children who did not.
Various tea extracts have shown bactericidal activity against mutan streptococci. Moreover, several catechins, the components from green tea, are active against cariogenic bacteria.
Antimicrobial Activity of Tea
