The findings, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, showed that green tea trimmed 5 to 6 points more from people’s total cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol levels than dummy capsules or other treatments.

The trials tested either green tea itself or capsules containing green-tea compounds called catechins, which are thought to decrease cholesterol absorption in the gut.

Green tea in a cup was more consistently effective than capsules, though the benefits overall were fairly small, notes senior researcher Olivia Phung, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.

Reuters

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According to recent data from the Tea Board of India, the country’s tea exports have plummeted to 109.24 million kg (estimated) during January-August from 124.15 million kg (estimated) during the same period the previous year.

Experts said the trigger for the decline in total tea export is the Iran payment crisis and political turmoil in Middle East and North African countries like Libya, Syria and Egypt.

"The main reason for the decline in tea export is the Iran payment crisis. Tea export to Iran is being held up because certain payments are held up. And also now export to Iran cannot happen directly," Kamal Baheti, director of world’s largest tea producer McLeod Russel, told IANS.

Iran is a major consumer of the high quality orthodox tea from India and imports nearly 15 million kg every year.

Indian Tea Association (ITA) secretary general Manojit Dasgupta said between January and August, tea exports to Iran were down by four million kg compared to the like period the previous year.

The problem over Iran payment arose after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last December scrapped the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) currency swap system to pay to the country following pressure from the US, which is using sanctions to force Tehran to halt its nuclear programme.

Baheti said tea exports are likely to be down by 10 million kg this calendar year as against last year.

A leading Indian tea producer and exporter Goodricke said the political turmoil in many of the Middle East countries and Egypt too had contributed to the decline inexports.

"Middle East countries are major importers of India tea. But the amount of export to the region is down this year due to political turmoil in countries like Libya and Syria. Export to Egypt has also declined," Goodricke Group managing director and chief executive Arun N. Singh said.

The fall of Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January was followed by anti-government protests in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain.

There has also been a significant drop in Indian tea exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), mainly Russia, due to higher prices compared to Sri Lankan tea, he said.

However, export of Darjeeling tea, known the world over for its aroma and taste, has soared.

"Darjeeling tea exports have increased by about eight-ten percent during January-August compared to the year ago period. The export hike is not because of additional demand…but because production is up by 15 percent during this period compared to the like period last year," Darjeeling Tea Association secretary Kaushik Basu said.

India generally exports about six million kg of Darjeeling tea annually, mainly to Europe.

Basu said economic slowdown in the Eurozone has so far not affected Darjeeling tea export. "However, if the recession remains strong in Europe even after six months, I think exports of Darjeeling tea will be affected," he cautioned.

But there is some good news for exporters of Darjeeling tea, with the European Union registering the product as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), which aims to protect product names from misuse and imitation.

"Any such tag is very prestigious. It will help exporters of authentic Darjeeling tea. It will stop mixing and fake tea exports," Basu said.

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Tea exports to mainland China increased by 56 percent in the first eight months of this year due to preferential tariff treatment under a major trade pact signed between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Agriculture and Food Agency said Monday.

The agency said that after tea was included in the early harvest program under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement this year, it has enjoyed preferential tariff treatment as long as it meets the criteria of origin.

Tariffs for Taiwan tea exported to the mainland was lowered to 5 percent from the original 15 percent this year, the agency said.

Tea exports to the mainland totaled US$6.41 million from January to August, up 56 percent from the US$4.09 million from the same period last year.

After the tariff is cut further to zero next year, it will be even more beneficial to tea exports, the agency said.

Taiwan’s tea has become a favorite among mainlanders, the agency said, adding that it will help build the supply chain of premium tea in a bid to enhance the competitive edge of local tea and increase the revenues of tea growers.

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NEW DELHI: India’s tea imports declined by 22 per cent to 5.19 million kg in the April-July period of the current fiscal.

The country had imported 6.62 million kg of the brew in the same period last fiscal, as per data released by the Tea Board.

India, the world’s largest consumer of tea, imports the leaves solely for the purpose of re-export to other countries. The dip in imports thus signals less re-exports.

India’s tea imports from China, Kenya, Malawi, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Iran, Argentina and Nepal declined in the first four months of the 2011-12 fiscal.

Imports of tea dipped by 19 per cent in July, 2011, to 1.67 million kg from 2.06 million kg in the year-ago period.

In the January-July period of the current calender year, imports of the brew fell by 19 per cent to 9.42 million kg from 11.64 million kg in the same period of the previous year.

India, the second biggest producer of tea in the world, accounts for about 28 per cent of global tea production and 14 per cent of trade. There are about 1,600 tea estates in India. The industry employs more than two million people.

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by S. C.

A recent USDA study states that green tea may have extensive antibacterial properties. The study was compiled by USDA experts from several prior studies on the individual interactions between compounds in green tea and several disease causing bacteria. The results indicate that green tea has applications for health far beyond its often-cited cancer and heart disease fighting properties. Below are a few of the strains of bacteria that the report claims green tea can fight against.

E. Coli
There are several different types of e. coli, and most of them are harmless. However, there is one strain, labeled O157:H7 which is very dangerous. Several different studies were cited in the USDA report mentioned above to show that green tea may be able to fight against this dangerous bacteria. The report maintains that the results are not entirely conclusive. However, in one study , mice treated with green tea supplements were more resistant to the symptoms of e. coli infection than mice who where not treated. Most mice exposed to e. coli and NOT given the green tea extract died. However none of the mice who were exposed to e. coli AND given the green tea extract showed any clinical signs of being affected. Most of the studies surveyed showed that symptoms of E. Coli were less prevalent when green tea was administered. In addition, some studies actually showed a reduction of the E. Coli organisms themselves.

Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis. In another study cited by the USDA report, the growth of this bacteria was inhibited by green tea. This seems to suggest that green tea consumption may have a hand to play in preventing tuberculosis infection.

Pneumonia
This disorder is often caused by a microorganism called mycoplasma pneumoniae. In another study cited by the USDA report, green and black tea were shown to prevent the spread of this microorganism. The USDA report claims that this may mean that certain nutrients in tea could be effective in treating pneumonia infections.

“Spoilage Bacteria”
The USDA report notes several bacteria which contribute to the spoilage of food that may be fought against using green tea. Many of these “spoilage bacteria” can contribute to food poisoning if their development on food is advanced. Green tea was found to stop the growth of many of these bacteria.

The Benefits of Eating Whole Green Tea Leaves
Many of the nutrients indicated as having “antibacterial” properties in the USDA report are present in much higher levels in whole tea leaves than they are in regular brewed tea. This is made clear in a second USDA report on the levels of beneficial nutrients in several different types of tea including brewed black and green tea as well as unadulterated whole green tea leaves. For example “Catechins,” which are one of the most important groups of flavonoids contributing to green tea’s anti-bacterial properties, are present in concentrations 94.7 times greater in whole green tea leaves than in brewed green tea. According to the report, the presence of other beneficial flavonoids such as Therugibins are as much as one hundred times greater or more in whole leaves than in brewed tea.

by S. C.   
05 September 2011 Teatro Naturale International n. 9 Year 3

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The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) recently announced that it is the local representative of China Tea Expo 2011, scheduled to be held on October 28-31 in Beijing. Further, saying it to be "the only world tea expo approved by the Ministry of Commerce, China," the FCCISL also revealed that "limited number of registrations for stalls and accommodating a selected delegation" would be on offer.

According to the FCCISL, last year’s China Tea Expo, the 7th such event, "approximately hosted 410 companies and 37,000 attendees." Additionally, it emerged that "visitors did get to taste a good few varieties, attended seminars and visited specialty teawholesale suppliers."

Meanwhile, this year’s event is said to also include the "World Tea Forum, High Quality Tea Rating and International Tea Ceremony Competition." Also, a number of business matching activities are also scheduled to take place including franchise and chain store opportunities, international buyers, agents for overseas companies and tea experts to be tapped for promotion purposes.

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Venue:  Central China International Exhibition Centre

            No.96# Zhengbian Road,Zhengzhou City, Henan province

Date:
25 – 28 August 2011

The Fifth China Zhengzhou International Tea Expo

Tea ceremony show

Zisha pot artist

pu’er tea processing show

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16 AUG, 2011

KOCHI: After a dull first half, the south Indian tea exports are bound to pick up in the coming months, according to The United Planters’ Association of Southern India ( Upasi).

The lower tea exports (16.2 million kg) from India and South India in particular was on account of disturbance in West Asia North Africa (WANA) region and also due to payment problem with Iran, Upasi tea committee chairman Peter Mathias said.

However, with the situation improving rapidly in WANA regions, the export to the region is bound to pick up. The offering at the major auction centres at Mombasa and Colombo are very low indicating a tight supply position. The Kenyan offering at Mombasa has declined from 6.5 million kg to around 4.1 million kg. The quantity offered by Sri Lanka has shown marginal decline falling below 7 million kg. The Iran payment problem has also been partially sorted out, he said.

Lower Kenyan crop in the first half of the year resulted in a tight tea supply situation. The Kenyan crop was down by 34.5 million kg. Though this was partially compensated by higher North Indian crop of 23.9 million kg, the world tea production during the first half was lower by 20.6 million kg. The supply crunch resulted in the better price realization across auction centres in the world.

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A compound found in green tea shows great promise for the development of drugs to treat two types of tumors and a deadly congenital disease. The discovery is the result of research led by Principal Investigator, Dr. Thomas Smith at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and his colleagues at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Their findings are published in the recent article,"Green Tea Polyphenols Control Dysregulated Glutamate Dehydrogenase In Transgenic Mice By Hijacking The ADP Activation Site” in The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is found in all living organisms and is responsible for the digestion of amino acids. In animals, GDH is controlled by a complex network of metabolites. For decades it was not clear why animals required such regulation but other kingdoms did not. This was partially answered by the Stanley group’s finding that a deadly congenital disease, hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia (HHS), is caused by the loss of some of this regulation. In this disorder, patients (typically children) respond to the consumption of protein by over secreting insulin, becoming severely hypoglycemic, often leading to death.

Using atomic structures to understand the differences between animals and plants, Dr. Smith and his colleagues discovered that two compounds found naturally in green tea are able to compensate for this genetic disorder by turning off GDH in isolated and when the green tea compounds were administered orally. The Smith lab also used X-ray crystallography to determine the atomic structure of these green tea compounds bound to the enzyme. With this atomic information, they hope to be able to modify these natural compounds to design and develop better drugs.

Interestingly, two other research groups have validated and extended these findings to demonstrate that blocking GDH with green tea is very effective at killing two different kinds of tumors; glioblastomas, an aggressive type of brain tumor, and tuberous sclerosis complex disorder, a genetic disease that causes non-malignant tumors to grow on a number of organs.

“While these compounds from green tea are extremely safe and consumed by millions every day, they have a number of properties that make them difficult to use as actual drugs. Nevertheless, our ongoing collaboration with the Stanley lab shows that there are natural compounds from plants that can control this deadly disorder and, with the atomic structure in hand, can be used as a starting point for further drug design.”

About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research at the Danforth Center will feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment, and enhance the St. Louis region and Missouri as a world center for plant science. The Center’s work is funded through competitive grants and contract revenue from many sources, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett Foundations.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center invites you to visit its new website, danforthcenter.org, featuring interactive information on the Center’s scientists, news, public education outreach, RSS feeds and the brand-new “Roots & Shoots” blog help keep visitors up to date with Center’s current operations and areas of research.

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