Tea for cancer prevention
Scientists have found out why tea is good for women's health
Tea reduces the likelihood of cancer and metabolic problems in women by changing the protein "packaging" of genes associated with these diseases, biologists have found out, who published an article in the journal Human Molecular Genetics (Ek et al., Tea and coffee consumption in relation to DNA methylation in four European cohorts).
"Similar positive effects were typical for women, but not men. Our colleagues have already shown that drinking tea reduces the level of estrogen, which may explain the differences in the body's response to this drink. In addition, women drink more tea than men, which also supports our findings," says Veronica Ek from Uppsala University (in a press release Tea consumption leads to epigenetic changes in women – VM).
The genetic material of humans and all other living beings with a separate cell nucleus is packed in special proteins-histones, which hold the folded DNA in place and affect the "readability" of individual genes.
In recent years, geneticists have found more and more hints that this "wrapper" of DNA is involved in the transmission of information between generations and allows animals and plants to adapt faster to new environmental conditions. Problems with "overwriting" special labels on its surface turned out to be associated with a predisposition to homosexuality and suicide among people, and drug use changes these labels and increases the vulnerability of the descendants of their carriers to drugs.
Ek and her colleagues discovered another similar link between DNA "packaging" and predisposition to diseases, this time positive, trying to understand how coffee and tea can affect the readability of genes in men and women.
To do this, scientists analyzed the structure of DNA and its protein "wrapper" in three thousand European residents of both sexes, and compared differences in gene activity with how often they consumed both drinks.
As it turned out, the differences did exist, but they were present in the body of women, but not men, and occurred only when drinking tea. In total, the structure of the "wrapper" changed in 28 regions of the genome, two of which – DNAJC16 and TTC17 – changed the most when drinking large amounts of tea.
Both of these genes, as scientists say, are associated with the launch of a cell's "self-destruction" system when its DNA breaks down and responds to inflammatory processes, anomalies in their work can lead to the development of cancer, diabetes and other health problems. This may explain why women who drink a lot of tea, on average, are less likely to suffer from breast cancer and other organs than the rest of the fairer sex.
As scientists emphasize, this discovery does not yet prove that tea is certainly good for women's health. For such statements, additional experiments are needed, which will comprehensively study all possible pros and cons of the drink.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
05.06.2017