Theanine (L-Theanine) is a unique free amino acid in tea leaves, and theanine is glutamic acid gamma-ethylamide, which has a sweet taste.
The content of l-theanine varies with the variety and location of the tea. Theanine accounts for 1%-2% by weight in dry tea.
Theanine is similar in chemical structure to glutamine and glutamic acid, which are active substances in the brain, and is the main ingredient in tea.
The content of theanine is about 1% to 2% of that of new tea, and its content decreases with the fermentation process.
In addition, because theanine can alleviate the bitter and spicy taste of other foods and effectively improve the flavor of food, it has been used in the field of food addition.
Studies in recent years have also shown that theanine has physiological effects such as anti-tumor, lowering blood pressure, improving memory, and calming the nerves.
What is the role of theanine in medicine?
1. Antitumor effect of theanine
Theanine can not only increase the anticancer activity of anticancer drugs against primary cancer, but also inhibit the metastasis of cancer cells.
Because theanine is a derivative of glutamine, tumor cells metabolize glutamine much more actively than normal cells.
Therefore, theanine acts as a competitor of glutamine and inhibits the growth of cancer cells by interfering with the metabolism of glutamine.
Studies in mice have shown that oral green tea not only reduces tumor formation, but also significantly reduces its size.
Some researchers believe that theanine can increase the antitumor properties of the anticancer drugs adriamycin and doxorubicin (DOXORUBICIN) in mice, and combine them to resist the metastasis of cancer cells.
At the same time, the anti-cancer drug PIRARUBICIN was prevented from flowing out of M5076 tumor cells, and the concentration of PIRARUBICIN in tumor cells was increased by 113 times, which increased the therapeutic effect of PIRARUBICIN by 117 times.
2. The antihypertensive effect of theanine
The regulation of blood pressure is mainly achieved through the increase or decrease of catecholamines and serotonin in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
After administration of murine theanine, it can reduce the content of serotonin, reduce the synthesis of serotonin in the brain and increase its decomposition in the brain.
When different doses of l-theanine were injected into spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), blood pressure decreased, and the degree of decrease showed a dose-response relationship, and a significant decrease in blood pressure was observed in the high-dose group.
However, even the highest dose of theanine (2000MG/KG) did not change the blood pressure of resting (WISTAR) rats. Glutamate, which is structurally similar to theanine, has not been found to lower blood pressure.
3. The important role of theanine on the nervous system
In 1975, Kimura et al. proved that theanine has an antagonistic effect on the excitement produced by caffeine, and can be used to inhibit the excitatory effect caused by caffeine, and has a sedative effect.
TsunodaT et al reported that theanine can significantly inhibit the excitation of the nervous system caused by caffeine.
KakukaT et al. determined by EEG evaluation method that at the same concentration as caffeine, theanine antagonizes the stimulating effect of caffeine.
We all know that brain neurotransmitters are closely related to improving memory and learning. Terashima et al. found that theanine can significantly increase the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain and improve memory.
In the Operanttests and Avoidancetests experiments to evaluate memory, the learning and memory ability of the rats added with theanine in water were improved, and the learning and memory time was significantly shorter than that of the group without theanine.
Through the use of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) metabolism inhibitors, theanine has been found to have an effect on the synthesis and breakdown of serotonin in the brain.
After taking theanine, the content of tryptophan in the brain increased significantly or tended to increase, but the content of serotonin decreased.
Theanine may decrease serotonin synthesis and increase its breakdown, or inhibit serotonin release.
After giving mice different doses of theanine for 30 days, it was found that theanine could significantly prolong the weight-bearing swimming time of mice, reduce the consumption of liver glycogen, and reduce the level of serum urea nitrogen during exercise.
High has obvious inhibitory effect and can promote the elimination of blood lactic acid after exercise, indicating that theanine has anti-fatigue effect.
4. Theanine's relaxing effect on the human body
Generally speaking, animals and people always produce very weak pulses on the surface of the brain, called brain waves.
Brain waves are divided into alpha, beta, delta and theta waves according to frequency, each of which is related to an individual's mental state.
The delta wave is in deep sleep, the theta wave is in the dozing state, the alpha wave is in the quiet state (relaxed state), and the beta wave is in the excited state, respectively.
At present, a total of 26 kinds of amino acids have been found in tea, including 20 kinds of protein amino acids, 6 kinds of non-protein amino acids (theanine, bean folic acid, glutamine methylamine, r-aminobutyric acid, asparagine ethylamine, B-alanine).
Therefore, if you insist on drinking tea, your body will have unexpected effects.
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