Learning to drink tea and learning a healthy lifestyle is also one of the ways to improve immunity!

With the epidemic raging, all hands are on deck to find a solution as soon as possible. This is understandable. But we must be vigilant against two things: firstly, profiteering from the anti-epidemic hotspot; secondly, pursuing personal gains at the expense of others. Normal scientific prevention methods are encouraged and respected, but using the situation for self-promotion, seeking to gain fame or awards is just taking advantage of a crisis. In matters where human lives are at stake, we must tread carefully.

However, regardless of how much scientific evidence there is to support the theory that tea leaves can ward off viruses, when fans see it, they are all a sense:

If someone told you that drinking a moderate amount of white wine and daily adequate tea consumption have an antiviral effect against the new coronavirus.

Do you believe that?

Everyone knows that catechin, theanine, and tea polysaccharide in tea have antioxidant, free radical clearance, immune enhancement effects. The components of catechins, theasinensin, and theaflavins in tea showed a significant inhibitory effect against influenza virus and has potential medicinal value.

Studies have found that EGCG and ECG have a significant inhibitory effect on various influenza viruses in MDCK cell culture, with effective inhibition concentrations (EC50) of 22-48, 22-40 and 309-318 μmol/L for type A influenza virus. Additionally, research has shown that theaflavin and its three derivatives also exhibit an inhibitory effect against influenza virus. EGCG can inhibit adenovirus through multiple mechanisms in cells.

The study found that Pu-erh tea and red tea extracts significantly inhibited the activity of 3CLpro protease, a protein of SARS virus (SARS-CoV belongs to coronaviridae family), and inhibited replication of the virus in host cells.

The theory of tea leaves' anti-virus function has been proven by Prof. Tuo Youying from Zhejiang University and Professor Kenji Watanabe, the director of Japanese Shizuoka Pharmaceutical University, who conducted three clinical trials for prevention of influenza at East Village in Tokyo.

However, often is official platform after publishing news, under pressure from public opinion to quickly delete, consecutive multiple times later, let people further doubt the credibility of official platforms.

The study on the functional components in tea leaves has been quite extensive, including anti-flu and even anti-HIV. However, these studies are mostly conducted with a specific component of tea leaves such as EGCG, but for a notable effect, the dosage is usually large and can't be achieved by drinking tea, even if a large amount is consumed, this functional component will not reach its target through normal metabolic activity of human body.

Therefore these functional components are used after they have been purified and concentrated from tea leaves.

The health benefits achieved through long-term tea consumption are largely due to its effects on digestive nutrient absorption and metabolic rate, a slow and sustained process.

For example, saying that exercise is beneficial to health doesn't mean you have to stand up from your chair and walk two steps to achieve good health. It means that if you want to be healthy, you need a long term, controlled, and systematic exercise program.

So, saying tea can fight viruses is correct, saying drinking tea can boost immunity and thus lower the risk of disease to anti-viral effect is also correct. However, it's not like after one cup of tea you can reach such an effect, this is a long-term and slow process. It's not that just buy some back home brew for a few times and then go out maskless.

Learning to drink tea and learning a healthy lifestyle are also ways of raising immunity.