Effets du Puerh sur la santé, suite

PRLog (Press Release) – Dec 12, 2007 –
Pu Erh Tea with the soothing properties, aid digestion and are perfect after heavy or greasy meals. More recent studies indicate powerful cholesterol lowering effects, blood cleansing properties and aid significantly in weight loss efforts. Many published studies have been done showing the enormous health benefits of this wonderful tea. The most eye opening of these studies was conducted in France several years ago. A blind study was conducted with 500 hyperlipidemia patients (individuals with advanced cholesterol conditions, usually controlled with medication). Half of the controlled group consumed 3-4 cups of Pu’erh daily, while the rest of the participants were given something else. After a 30-day period the results showed that drinking Pu’erh on a regular basis could significantly lower cholesterol and further research confirmed that Pu’erh was as effective as the most advanced cholesterol lowering medications available. This is just one of the many healthy benefits of this delicious tea.

Accounts on the health benefits and medical use of Pu-erh tea has been documented in various ancient scripts and famous books throughout Chinese history. Pu-erh tea is strongly believed to have wide ranging health benefits from anti aging, prevention of heart disease and cancer, diabetic control, removal of toxins to curing dysentery, inflammation, aiding digestion and weight loss, improving the eyesight, blood circulation and reviving those who are overly intoxicated with alcohol.

The long term consumption of Pu-erh tea is believed to help reduce high blood pressure and cholesterol levels and play an important role in preventing heart disease and cancer. Pu-erh tea made from wild old tea trees are reputed to be more potent, containing strong Qi (translated as « life energy » or « life force ») that boosts the blood flow and helps the body’s circulation. This as a result aids the removal of toxins and can cure minor aches and pains.

Effets du Puerh sur la santé, suite

Tasty and Full of Health Benefits Pu-erh is a Tea Superstar – ASSOCIATED CONTENT (AC)

It seems like everyone has something to say about the great health benefits of green tea, but green tea isn’t the only superstar in the world of Asian teas. Pu-erh tea (also labeled as Puer tea) has been the subject of many health studies over the past few years. The result? Scientists and tea -lovers alike say that Pu-erh tea might be a winner for those wanting to lower high cholesterol.

Pu-erh tea is a « large leaf » Chinese tea known for its aging process. Though it might not be as sought after in the United States, well-aged Pu-erh can be an expensive luxury in other countries. The older the leaf, the higher its value; however, to get great benefits from Pu-erh, there’s no reason for a tea novice to shell out the cash for the more expensive brands.

For hundreds of years, Pu-erh tea has had a place in the practice of traditional Chinese medicine. It is most often drunk at meal times to aid in digestion and blood circulation, but Pu-erh has also been used to treat a number of other conditions throughout the years. Pu-erh tea has even been marketed as a weight loss aid more recently. While studies have not been able to significantly prove that Pu-erh aids in weight loss, rats given a Pu-erh diet have been subject to weight loss. More significant, however, has been the reduced cholesterol levels discovered in these studies.

In a 2005 comparative study between Pu-erh, green, black, and oolong tea by the Tea Research and Extension Station in Taipei, Taiwan, it was found that, while all four of the teas proved beneficial in combating cholesterol in some way, Pu-erh tea was the only tea that significantly lowered triglyceride levels and lowered total cholesterol. Another study at Kunming Medical Collegein China found that Pu-erh tea provided nearly the same result as a common cholesterol prescription drug, lowering the level of blood cholesterol in human subjects with high cholesterol by a whopping 64.29%.

Effets du Puerh sur la santé

Zhejiang University Tea Research Institute, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou 310029, People’s Republic of China.

In the present study, we successively extracted the Pu-erh tea with acetone, water, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol, and the extracts were then isolated by column chromatography. Our study demonstrates that the Pu-erh tea ethyl acetate extract, n-butanol extract, and their fractions had superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity: fractions 2 and 8 from the ethyl acetate extract and fractions 2, 4, and 5 from the n-butanol extract showed protective effects against hydrogen peroxide-induced damage in human fibroblast HPF-1 cells and increased the cells’ viability under normal cell culture conditions. In addition, it is found that these fractions, except fraction 5 from the n-butanol extract, decreased the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species in hydrogen peroxide-induced HPF-1 cells. Interestingly, the antioxidant effect of fraction 8 from the ethyl acetate extract on the above four systems was much stronger than that of the typical green tea catechin (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, but there were almost no monomeric polyphenols, theaflavins, and gallic acid in fraction 8.

PMID: 17032009 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE

Effets du Puerh РRecherche tr̬s cr̩dible

Pu-erh tea is believed to possess many beneficial health effects since it is a natural source of cardioprotective lipid lowering and antioxidant compounds, although, the major constituents putatively responsible for these beneficial effects remain unknown. In this study, we examined the effects of two commonly consumed forms of Pu-erh tea, fermented and unfermented, on weight gain, serum levels of lipids and lipoprotein, lipid oxidation, and blood antioxidant enzymes in a rat hyperlipidemia model. Hyperlipidemic rats were treated with water extracts of either 0.5, 1.5 or 3.0 mg/kg fermented or unfermented Pu-erh tea. Serum low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride levels were significantly lowered by tea extract compared to the control group. (p < 0.05) and in most cases were indistinguishable from rats fed normal chow, basal diet. Conversely, levels of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) were elevated in the groups given daily doses of tea extract (p < 0.05). Compared to the hyperlipidemic control group, activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in serum were significantly elevated in Pu-erh tea-treated groups while levels of malondiadehyde (a byproduct of lipid peroxidation) decreased in the same groups. These effects were most pronounced in the groups treated with the highest dose of fermented Pu-erh tea extract. Our results suggest that Pu-erh tea exerts strong antioxidative and lipid-lowering effects and therefore can be used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disorders.

^aCertificate Assessment Center of Yunnan Pu-erh Tea, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, PR China

^bCollege of Long Run Pu-erh Tea, Yunnan Agriculture University, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, PR China

^cCollege of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agriculture University, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, PR China

^dBasic Medical School, Peking University, Beijing 100083, PR China

^eDepartment of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA

^fDepartment of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, 975 W. Walnut St. IB 457, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
Received 8 January 2009; 

revised 21 March 2009; 

accepted 26 March 2009. 

Available online 5 April 2009.