Many people enjoy the relaxing effects of caffeine free green tea and green tea extract caffeine free. Recent studies indicate that a compound in green tea may also suppress the inflammatory damage that occurs with Sjogren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Both diseases cause the body to attack itself. There is no effective way to prevent or cure these two autoimmune disorders.

Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia used a mice model of Sjogren’s syndrome to analyze the effects of EGCG, a compound found in green tea that possesses anti-inflammatory properties. They wanted to determine whether the compound could protect the salivary glands. The scientists gave half the mice water and the other half received the green tea compound. The group that drank the compound exhibited considerably lower levels of inflammatory cells and antibodies that erroneously attack normal tissue. The level of autoantibody activity in their bodies was comparable to healthy mice. The chemicals that the compound blocks are the same inflammatory chemicals that are active in several other autoimmune illnesses.

University of Michigan Medical School scientists collected synovial cells from RA patients. They treated half the cells with the green tea compound. The scientists then exposed the two groups of cells to a chemical that causes inflammation and joint damage in RA. They discovered that the synovial cells that were treated with the green tea compound impeded the formation of the inflammatory chemicals. Higher doses of EGCG halted the production of the damaging chemicals during the laboratory experiment.