Bioactive Ingredients in Green Tea for Human Healthcare

Dear Colleagues,

In contrast to black and oolong teas with a progressive spontaneous oxidation process called fermentation, green tea is manufactured through the respective discontinuation of residential enzyme activities by steaming, for Japanese green tea, and roasting, for Chinese green tea, after the harvest of tea leaves from the tea plant “Chanoki” (Camellia sinensis). In accordance with the individually different manufacturing processes, each tea beverage contains common and unique constituents in different amounts. In order to make high-grade green teas, tea leaves are usually protected from sunlight known to facilitate the hydration of the amino acid theanine required for the synthesis of flavonoids for weeks before harvest. Theanine is, thus, more abundant in high-grade green teas rather than black and oolong teas. In addition to caffeine ubiquitously found in most tea beverages, green tea contains a variety of bioactive phytochemicals classified to polyphenols, such as catechins and tannins, with less amounts of amino acids, vitamins, saponins, minerals, chlorophyll, etc., as a bioactive ingredient. Green tea has been ingested as an herbal medicine expected to help the preservation of body wellness for hundreds of years in human’s history, while recent cohort and intervention studies have raised the possible benefits of sustained oral green tea ingestion for human healthcare. Accordingly, this Special Issue will mainly refer to several bioactive green tea ingredients with possible usefulness for the future development of innovative dietary supplements and nutraceuticals supposed to be beneficial for human healthcare rather than the therapy as medicines. From the viewpoint of better quality of life, the prophylaxis is undoubtedly more inevitable and desirable for human healthcare as a preemptive medicine strategy than the therapy by pharmaceuticals.

This Special Issue thus aims to recruit contributions subservient for the facilitation of elucidation, as well as understanding of long-time mysteries on green tea ingestion from scientists of different disciplines in the world. In a particular situation, life style changes are more crucial for the improvement of untoward symptoms seen in a variety of diseases and disorders than treatment with medicines. In this Special Issue, I would like to offer a platform for all relevant scientists worldwide to participate in mutual communication and exchange of the crucial information on the clarification and enlightenment of the scientific backgrounds of molecular pharmacology of green tea ingredients as review and original research articles. We now need a construction and an orchestration of nutraceutical sciences with accumulating evidence as seen in pharmaceutical sciences for medicines. 

Prof. Dr. Yukio Yoneda
Guest Editor

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