Drinking green tea may help treat food allergies

Tokyo, April 10

If you are a tea lover, there is good news as researchers have revealed that consuming green tea can help combat food allergies. A food allergy occurs when your immune system over reacts to a food or a substance in a food. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, found that drinking green tea increases the abundance of gut bacteria that helps suppress allergic immune responses.

For the findings, the research team at the Shinshu University in Japan looked at green tea and the abundance of Flavonifractor plautii (FP) bacteria found in the gut. FP has been reported to be a part of the catechin metabolism in the intestines. Catechin is an antioxidant found in a variety of foods, including green tea, of which 30 to 42 per cent of its dry weight is catechin. The researchers found that oral administration of FP strongly suppresses the Th2 immune response to food allergies in vivo.

The food we eat effects the complex cocktail of different strains of bacteria in the gut, they said.

Drinking green tea increases the abundance of FP (Flavonifractor plautii) which suppresses the Th2 immune response. FP is a strain of the Clostridia family of bacteria, which is known to have effects on the immune system, notably inhibiting inflammation.

According to the study, some clostridia strains show promise of lowering blood pressure and some are known to be abundant in lean people and not in heavier people, leading researchers to believe they can be used to regulate weight. However, the researchers noted that more studies are needed to look into the safety of FP before it can be used as a probiotic to treat allergies.