Green Tea, the Beverage, Alleviated Symptoms, Reduces Risk and Treatment of Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)

By Kyle J. Norton, Master of Nutrition

Green tea may have a therapeutic and positive effect in reducing the symptoms, risk, progression, and treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), some scientists suggested.

Polymyalgia rheumatica an inflammatory disease with muscle pain and stiffness, especially in the shoulders, affecting mostly older adults beyond the age of 65.

The exact causes of polymyalgia rheumatica are unknown. However, researchers do know that certain prevalent risk factors are associated with the onset of diseases, such as age, family history, gender, ethnicity and exposure to environmental weather.

Genetic mutations inherited from the parents are also the major risk factor for the development of polymyalgia arthritis such as ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1), RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed, and presumably secreted). 

It is important to know that Giant cell arteritis (GCA) (temporal arteritis) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) share the common identity, frequently related conditions in people generally over 50 years of age, according to the Dr. Miguel A Gonzalez-Gay in the study of ” Genetic epidemiology: Giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica”.

Symptoms of PMR are depending on the severity of the condition, including aches or pain shoulders,  neck, upper arms, buttocks, hips or thighs, and stiffness in affected areas.

People with PMR also experience pain in the morning or after being inactive for a time,  limited range of motion in the affected areas.

If you have some of the above symptoms, please check with your doctor to rule out the PMR possibility.
Green tea is a precious drink processed numbers of health benefit and known to almost everyone in Asia and the Western world.

In an animal study of inflammatory diseases induced by injection of LPS, researchers found that application of green tea bioactive polyphenols EGCG improves antioxidant status of the host and decreases the production of inflammatory factors, including PMR through its antioxidant properties.

Further analysis suggested that application of EGCG reduced symptoms of inflammation such as pain, tension, stiffness, swelling of the infectious site without affecting the function of immune system in the protection against microorganisms invasion through inhibiting over-expression of tumor necrosis alpha(TNF-α) involved in the systematic inflammatory response to the acute phase of infection.

The bioactive compound also inhibited reactive oxygen species (ROS) in stimulating the production of inflammatory cytokines through stopping the free radicals chain reactions that facilitate inflammation and the precipitate skeletal muscle dysfunction and degradation by infiltrating immune cells to induce direct injury to muscle tissue.

In fact, overproduction of ROS increased expression of mitochondria, NAD(P)H oxidases, xanthine oxidoreductases, and nitric oxide synthases can cause an imbalance of the free radicals and antioxidant ratio, in orchestrated oxidative stress to muscle cells.

The further evaluation suggested that green tea EGCG also reduced expression of interleukin 6 (IL-6), with function in response to infections and tissue injuries.

Long-term overproduction of IL 6 due to the duo factors as a pro and anti-inflammatory protein may increase high-level concentrations of serum amyloid A (SAA), which has been found to induce serious complications of several chronic inflammatory diseases through the generated and deposited amyloid A amyloidosis into the extracellular space in an abnormal, insoluble, fibrillar form,

Moreover, EGCG also attenuated levels of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune functions and served as a pivotal mediator of inflammatory responses through activation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in promoting muscle wasting, leading to muscle atrophy in the induction of pain and stiffness and swelling.

Importantly, application of green tea EGCG enhanced the natural antioxidant enzymes in the host such as glutathione, an antioxidant enzyme produced naturally found in every cell and tissue of the body.

These actions together with antioxidant initiated by injection of green tea EGCG stimulated cell regeneration, preserved the muscle cells and tissues and prevented muscle tension to precipitate polymyalgia arthritis.

Deficiency of glutathione levels was found to associate to the early onset of polymyalgia rheumatica, inducing symptoms of pain, stiffness, achiness, fatigue, and fever.

Differentiation of the above was supported by conventional medicine corticosteroids, a powerful anti-inflammatory drugs with the function to target pro-inflammation cytokines in the relieved stiffness and pain in patients with polymyalgia arthritis.

Taken all together, green tea and its bioactive polyphenols EGCG may be considered a functional food for alleviating symptoms, risk, progression and treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica(PMR).

However, ingestion green tea supplements should be taken with extreme care as acute liver toxicity has been reported in several medical literatures.

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal – The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it’s news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada – Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Epigallocatechin-3-gallate attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced mastitis in rats via suppressing MAPK mediated inflammatory responses and oxidative stress by Chen J1, Xu J1, Li J1, Du L1, Chen T2, Liu P1, Peng S1, Wang M1, Song H3. (PubMed)
(2) [Anti-inflammatory effects of tea-flavonoids].[Article in German] by Hoensch H1, Oertel R.(PubMed)
(3) Green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate: inflammation and arthritis. [corrected]. by Singh R1, Akhtar N, Haqqi TM. (PubMed)