Amyloidosis and Tea: the two seem an unlikely pair, until you read Werner Hunstein’s scientific letter in the September 15, 2007 issue of Blood: Journal of the American Society of Hematology. Hunstein, a renowned professor emeritus of hematology at the University of Heidelberg, is himself an amyloidosis sufferer. However, he began to map out the effects of green tea in drastically improving his own illness. Hunstein was diagnosed in 2001 with amyloidosis, a rare and potentially fatal disease that occurs when substances called amyloid proteins build up in organs. Once he began drinking large amounts of a specific green tea, his condition improved significantly and the deposits of toxic amyloid protein buildup stopped, presumablybecause of its contents of EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) andother phenols.
The tea he drank was Darjeeling, from the Teekampagne, represented in the United States by the Boston Tea Campaign. (www.bostonteacampaign.com)
According to Hunstein, “Recommendation of this tea ‘therapy’ came from former members ofmy staff on the basis of a lecture by Prof E. E. Wanker alertingthem to in vitro experiments reporting the effects of EGCG onamyloid fibrils.” He explains, “As a hematologist rooted deeply in the natural sciences, I decided to follow the advice to drink green tea on a dailybasis. The results are incredible. For 20 months, the green tea results are consideredas successful as the effect of chemotherapy and since September 2006,it has improved month by month.”
Teekampagne was initiated over 20 years ago by Guenter Faltin, professor of business education at the Free University of Berlin. It has evolved into a highly efficient enterprise and become the largest tea mail order business in Germany. Teekampagne is now offering its teas in the United States through the Boston Tea Campaign.
Contacts:
Boston Tea Campaign
Fritz Fleischmann, 877-282-8327
fleischmann@bostonteacampaign