This is how green tea, apple benefit our health

Scientists have found proof upholding the health enhancing facts about certain foods like green tea and apples.

Dr Paul Kroon and his group at the Institute of Food Research have shown that polyphenols in green tea and apples block a signalling molecule called VEGF, which in the body can cause atherosclerosis and is a target for some anti-cancer drugs.

In the body, VEGF is a main driver of blood vessel formation in these cell types via a process called angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is important in cancer breakthrough, as well as in the development of atherosclerotic plaques and plaque split which can cause heart attacks and stroke.

Using cells deduced from human blood vessels, the researchers found that low concentrations of the polyphenols epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from green tea and procyanidin from apples stopped a crucial signalling function of VEGF.

Kroon said that if this result happened in the body as well, it would provide very strong basis for a mechanism that links dietary polyphenols and beneficial health effects.