Why Drink Aged Tea?
Aged tea, because theophylline and tea polyphenols decompose into polysaccharides under oxidation. There are three main types of macromolecules that sustain life activities in living organisms: nucleic acids, proteins, and polysaccharides. Among them, the chemical structures and biological functions of nucleic acids and proteins have been well studied, but the understanding and attention given to polysaccharides remain insufficient. Polysaccharides are "the most complex in structure, the most diverse in function, and the most magical in efficacy." They are formed by the connection of many monosaccharide molecules. The variety, connection modes, and molecular configurations of the polysaccharides they form are more diverse than those of nucleic acids or proteins. In the body, they often combine with proteins or lipids, existing in the form of glycoproteins or glycolipids. They will be the development direction of biochemistry in the 21st century.
Sugars are widely present in animal cell membranes or in the cell walls of plants and microorganisms. Due to the complexity and ever-changing nature of their configurations, they often become special markers on the surfaces of various cells. The generation, transmission, and reception of signals between cells are closely related to the mediation of polysaccharides on the cell surface. These polysaccharide molecules, like installed antennas, constantly capture information from all directions. At the same time, polysaccharides with different structures are like different people with distinct appearances, allowing them to recognize each other. In this way, polysaccharides can form receptors for various antigens, hormones, and drugs on the cell surface, participating in important life activities such as cell contact, activation, and proliferation.
Recent studies have shown that the effective components of many aged teas that have strong tonic and immune-boosting effects are mostly polysaccharide substances. Polysaccharides are a water-soluble beta-D glucan. They also contain 15-38% polypeptide substances, which are composed of eighteen amino acids. Animal experiments have proven that they have a strong effect in preventing and treating tumors. When S180 sarcoma is transplanted subcutaneously into mice, it quickly grows into a tumor mass. A noticeable protruding lump can be seen after two weeks, and generally, the animals die around twenty days later. If polysaccharides are orally administered or injected into mice before or after the S180 sarcoma inoculation, the tumor will not grow, and the survival time of the animals can be significantly extended.
Another experiment involves injecting a suspension of P388 leukemia cells into mice. The tumor cells also proliferate rapidly, causing the mice to die quickly. However, if 0.5 ml of polysaccharides is added to each ml of the P388 suspension, 90-96% of the mice survive. These experiments demonstrate the anti-tumor effects of polysaccharides. Further research by scientists has revealed that the anti-tumor effect is achieved by inhibiting the synthesis of nucleic acids in cancer cells. Polysaccharides significantly reduce the radioactive penetration into the cell nucleus, with an inhibition rate of 49% on DNA synthesis and 51% on RNA synthesis in cancer cells.
The therapeutic effect of polysaccharides on tumors is not through directly killing tumor cells, but by enhancing the patient's immune defense system, achieving anti-cancer and anti-tumor effects. Experiments have shown that polysaccharides extracted from aged tea can enhance T-cell function, restoring normal immune function in those with weakened immunity. They particularly activate T cells, NK cells, and LAK cells that have the function of killing tumor cells. The protein-bound polysaccharides extracted and isolated from aged tea have shown significant tumor inhibition effects both in vivo and in vitro. Through flow cytometry analysis, it was found that CO-N can bind to receptors on cancer cell membranes, blocking the entry of nutrients such as glucose into the cells, thereby causing tumor cells to "starve" due to a lack of energy.
Polysaccharides are also activators of immune B cells. Polysaccharides can promote the proliferation of B cells, enabling them to produce a large number of immunoglobulin antibodies, thereby enhancing disease resistance. The ability of cancer patients and animals with transplanted tumors to produce antibodies is very low, but it can be restored to normal after taking Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides.