The Beverage Which Stops Osteoarthritis

By Kyle J. Norton, Master of Nutrition

Regular drinking of green tea may have a positive effect in suppressed conditions that causes osteoarthritis, some study by respectable institute suggested.

Osteoarthritis (OA), is a form of arthritis characterized by aging progression of wear and tear on a joint, affecting over 25 million people in the United States alone.

Osteoarthritis is the single most common cause of disability in older adults. The disease even with today medical and  technological invention remains a serious health crisis in US and a global epidemic, too.

The 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study reports, according to the World health Organization (WHO), in assessments of world wide 6.8% musculoskeletal disorders population, 10% to 15% of all adults aged over 60 have some degrees of OA, with prevalence higher among women than men(4)..

Continuously, the WHO wrote, “The prevalence of OA is increasing due to population ageing and an increase in related factors such as obesity. According to the United Nations, by 2050 people aged over 60 will account for more than 20% of the world’s population” and  “by 2050, 130 million people will suffer from OA worldwide, of whom 40 million will be severely disabled by the disease.6 Costs associated with OA include costs for adaptive aids and devices, medicines, surgery, and time off at work”(4)

Some researchers suggested that the prevalence of OA will be increased substantially, if the organization is taking into account of increased obesity risk of Asian population, due to over 30 years of economic prosperity that influence many people who have made a lot of money to replace  traditional Asian diet with  American diet that is high on carbohydrate and saturated fat and trans fat.

Symptoms of osteoarthritis are associated to aching pain, stiffness, or difficulty moving the joint  that may develop in one or more joints. The pain usually gets worse in change of weather at night and in the advanced of the diseases, the pain can occur even at rest.

If you experience all of above symptoms, you may have osteoarthritis.

Gene inherited from parent, extreme over weight, previous joints injure, over use and patients with bone and joint disorders are most common causes and risk of factors of the disease.

Moreover, abnormal biomechanics, age-related sarcopenia and increased bone turnover may also contribute to the development of OA.

Green tea, a precious drink processes numbers of health benefit known to almost everyone in Asia and Western world.

In a randomized open-label active-controlled clinical trial of 50 adults with osteoarthritis of knee allocated to receive the green tea extract (in dosage form of tablet) plus diclofenac tablet as “intervention group”; or: diclofenac tablet alone as “control group” for a period of four weeks, researchers at the joint study lead by the Fasa University of Medical Sciences found that combination treated group exerted a significant improvement of physical function in compared to control(1).

Green tea extract and diclofenac tablet treatment group also expressed a progress in pain reduction during knee joint physical function in adults with osteoarthritis as in control group(1).

Dr. Hashempur MH, at the end of experiment period said, ” …green tea extract might well be considered as an adjunctive treatment both for control of pain and for the betterment of knee joint physical function in adults with osteoarthritis”.

Additionally, in the compared the effect of curcuminoids extract, hydrolyzed collagen and green tea extract, in chondrocytes culture cells, researchers found that combination of all components score a enormous expression of reduced production of pro inflammatory cytokines through various mechanisms, including ameliorated free radical elucidation(2).

In human chondrocytes (cells that secreted the matrix of cartilage) and in the absence of interleukin 1β, combination with hydrolyzed collagen and green tea extract significantly inhibited matrix metalloproteinase-3 production which has a direct impact in denatured type I collagen(collagen fibers)(2).

Furthermore, in the presence of proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 1β, the combined application was significantly more efficient in inhibited interleukin-1β stimulated matrix metalloproteinase-3 expression than any individual extract.

Interleukin 1β, a protein is an important mediator of the immune systematic inflammatory response in acute phase of infection through its function as a proinflammatory cytokine to protect our body against foreign organism invasion(2).

Most importantly, all other factors that have contributed to the onset of osteoarthritis such as chondrocytes, nitric oxide, interleukin-6 were also inhibited by the combined injection, according to the record reported by Dr. Comblain F, the lead scientist(2).

In the support of the above differentiation, the study in the investigation of a posttraumatic osteoarthritis (OA) mouse model tested with EGCG against progression of OA and relieve OA-associated pain, researchers suggested that EGCG-treated mice promoted cartilage production against Safranin O, staining of the knee joint cartilage loss and cartilage erosion in compared to control group with no treatment(3).

Cartilage of treated mice also displayed a significant reduction of gene in regulated degeneration of connective tissue and pathways that involve promotional of tissues inflammation(3).

Additionally, pain score of treated mice also exhibited a significant enhancement in compared control group(3).

Taking together, there is no doubt that green tea processes a therapeutic and integrated form of treatment of osteoarthritis by suppressing the conditions that cause symptoms of pain and physical disability.

However, further data collection on large example size and multi centers studies performed with human consumption of the whole food during the course of the disease will be necessary to complete the picture of green tea anti osteoarthritis possibilities.