The pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) can cause stomach cancer. A new study found that tea extracts can inhibit the bacteria and potentially help prevent the development of the disease.
H. pylori is found in almost 50 percent of people of Asian descent. Salty food can lead the pathogen to produce a toxin that causes a series of stomach diseases including gastric ulcers, peptic ulcers, gastritis, and stomach cancer.
The study, which was led by Chandrakant Ankolekar and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, showed that most tea extracts prepared from white, green, oolong, and black teas were prohibitory against H. pylori so long as the extraction process lasted five minutes.
When the extraction lasted for two minutes, only tea extracts from Choice darjeeling black and Tazo white teas inhibited the pathogen.
It remains unknown which tea ingredient was responsible for the inhibitory effect against the cancer-causing bacteria, but all tea extracts are found to contain gallic acid, quercetin, caffeine, and tea catechins.
One thing the researchers did learn was that tea extracts did not have an effect on beneficial lactic acid producing bacteria or probiotics.
The authors of the study concluded that "tea can be potentially used as a low-cost dietary support to combat H. pylori–linked gastric diseases without affecting the beneficial intestinal bacteria."
The study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Medicinal Food.