Green tea deters food poisoning It has long been known from experience that green tea has the ability to kill bacteria. Consumption of strong green tea, for example, is often recommended as a good treatment for diarrhea.

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Dr. Hara(#13) has shown in his research that catechin is a powerful sterilizing agent for many types of bacteria that cause food poisoning. He checked the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC, ppm) of green tea catechin necessary to stop the growth of various types of food poisoning bacteria and found that (a) Staphylococcus aureus, (b)Vibrio parahaemolyticus, (c) Clostridium peifringens, (d)Bacillus cereus, (e) Plesiomonas shigelloides, (f) Aeromonas sobria and (g)Clostridium botulinum cannot grow in the 1/10 1/2 of 0.1% of catechin in the green tea normally drunk by the Japanese people.

But even fairly high concentrations of catechin had no negative effect on the bifidtcs bacillus, which is necessary ~ for proper functioning of the intestinal tract. In addition to this evidence, Prof. Shimamura(#14) has reported that green tea is a very strong sterilant of cholera vibrio and has a strong antitoxic effect on toxins produced by bacteria other than cholera.

These results indicate the antibacterial function of green tea catechin and suggest that it may be effective in preventing food poisoning. Every year throughout the world there are countless incidents of food poisoning.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea, given these facts, to enjoy one’s meals with several cups of green tea?

(#13) Y. Hara and T. Ishigami, Nippon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi, 36, 996 (1989). (#14) T. Shimamura et al.. Jpn. f.Bacteriol., 44, 669 (1989).