Rooibos - The Perfect Tea

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Rooibos Information From The American Botanical Council

In the strict sense, the word tea has been reserved for infusions made from leaves of the evergreen shrub Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze, Theaceae, while infusions made from herbs such as rooibos have been called tisanes. Over time, however, the common use of the word tea has been extended to include herbal infusions, and this relaxed usage is followed here. Rooibos is often referred to as red tea because it makes a vibrant red-colored tea, which can be confusing because black tea and hibiscus herbal tea are also sometimes called red tea.

Rooibos The Healthy Tea

Both rooibos and honeybush tea offered protection against one of the first steps in the potential onset of cancer: mutagenesis. This is the process whereby the genetic material (or DNA) of a cell is altered by excessive exposure to mutagens (cigarette smoke, sunlight or chemical substances such as hydrogen peroxide). This change in the DNA is known to be a major cause of cancer.

From the doctor doing the research: 'Rooibos and honeybush teas provide a natural, rich source of compounds beneficial to your health and people should see these herbal teas as part of a healthy, sensible lifestyle that could alleviate the risk of cancer, and reduce its possible extent...'

Antimutagenic and Cancer-modulating Properties of Two Unique South African Herbal Teas, Rooibos and Honeybush.

Scientists have identified that cancer development is a multi-step process and that damage to genetic material (DNA) is likely to be a major cause of cancer and other chronic diseases. Both rooibos and honeybush teas have been shown, in studies done at PROMEC Unit, to prevent DNA damage. These herbal teas showed protective effects against chemical-induced mutagenicity in vitro as well as in vivo. The activity of two drug detoxifying enzymes, glutathione-S transferase (GST-) and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDP-GT) were significantly induced in the liver of rats consuming the herbal teas at concentrations (2% for rooibos and 4% for honeybush) customarily used for tea making purposes in South Africa. Several mechanisms involved in this ex vivo protection can be suggested: 1) the phase II detoxifying enzyme, GST-, catalyse conjugation of glutathione (GSH) to a variety of electrophillic compounds (e.g. chemical carcinogens) thus mediating a protective effect against carcinogenesis or mutagenesis. The ratio of reduced (GSH) and oxidised (GSSG) glutathione in the livers of rats consuming the two herbal teas were 5-6 fold higher. Reduced glutathione is a powerful intracellular antioxidant and the ratio of reduced to oxidised glutathione serves as a marker of the antioxidative capacity of the cell. The increased ratio may be indicative of a reduced oxidative stress in the liver as compared to control rats drinking water, 2) the increased glucuronidation capacity of the liver also contributes to the deactivation of mutagens/metabolites that may serve as precursors for the ultimate carcinogen and 3) the presence of tea phenols in the liver cytosol may also interfere with the metabolic activation of carcinogens, thus contributing to the protective effect. The herbal teas had no effect on the level of the Phase I activating enzymes in the liver.