High quality green tea, after brewing, will have a clear green tea soup, fresh tea taste, sweet aftertaste, and a "fresh" flavor. The pleasant freshness is mainly attributed to theanine, an important component of tea. 1950 In, Japanese scholar Kojiro sakuto isolated the main substance producing this flavor from green tea - a non protein amino acid, named theanine. Theanine in tea is L-theanine according to the nomenclature. The content of theanine directly determines the quality of tea, with a correlation coefficient of 0.787-0.876 for the quality of green tea. It is also important for the formation of the quality and flavor of black tea and oolong tea. Amino acid is a kind of non protein free amino acid, which accounts for 1%-2% of the total weight of dry tea and more than 50% of the total free amino acid in tea. So far, this special amino acid has been found only in tea, Prunus mume and Kadsura. In recent years, some special physiological functions of theanine have been found continuously, and it has become another hot spot in the co functional components and utilization of tea. The main functions of theanine are as follows:
(1) Regulate the changes of neurotransmitters in the brain. Theanine affects the metabolism and release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain. Brain diseases controlled by these neurotransmitters may also be regulated or prevented.
(2) Improve learning ability and memory.
(3) Sedation. Caffeine is a well-known stimulant, but people feel relaxed, calm and happy when drinking tea. It has been proved that this is mainly the function of theanine. Caffeine and amino acid intake at the same time had a significant inhibitory effect on excitation.
(4) Improve menstrual syndrome.
Most women have menstrual syndrome. Menstrual syndrome is the mental and physical discomfort of women aged 25-45 in the 3-10 days before menstruation. Mentally, it is mainly manifested in irritability, anger, depression, restlessness and inability to concentrate. Physically, it is mainly manifested in fatigue, difficulty in sleeping, headache, chest pain, abdominal pain, backache, cold hands and feet, etc. The sedative effect of theanine makes people think that it can improve menstrual syndrome. Clinical trials on women have proved its effect.
(5) Effect of lowering blood pressure.
In animal experiments, when theanine was injected into spontaneously hypertensive rats, the diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure and mean blood pressure decreased, and the degree of reduction was related to the dose, but the heart rate did not change significantly; Theanine has no effect on lowering blood pressure in rats with normal blood pressure, indicating that theanine only has the effect of lowering blood pressure in rats with hypertension. Theanine may play a role in lowering blood pressure by regulating the concentration of neurotransmitters in the brain.
(6) Enhance the efficacy of anticancer drugs.
The incidence and mortality of cancer are still high, and the drugs developed for the treatment of cancer often have strong side effects. In the treatment of cancer, in addition to the use of anti-cancer drugs, we must also use a variety of drugs to inhibit its side effects. Theanine itself has no antitumor activity, but it can improve the activity of many antitumor drugs. When theanine and antineoplastic drugs are used together, theanine can prevent antineoplastic drugs from flowing out of tumor cells and enhance the anticancer effect of antineoplastic drugs. Theanine can also reduce the side effects of anti-tumor drugs, such as regulating the level of lipid peroxidation and reducing the reduction of white blood cells and bone marrow cells caused by anti-tumor drugs. Theanine can also inhibit the invasion of cancer cells, which is a necessary way for cancer cells to spread. Inhibiting its infiltration can prevent the spread of cancer.
(7) As we all know, drinking tea has the effect of reducing weight. Drinking tea for a long time makes people thin and removes human fat. The weight loss effect of tea is the result of the joint action of various components in tea, including theanine. Theanine is actually effective in reducing cholesterol in the body. In addition, theanine was also found to have liver protection and antioxidant effects. The safety of theanine has also been proved.
Most of the health food varieties in the market are for adult disease prevention or improvement. imageTheanineThis kind of health food, which has no hypnosis, can relieve fatigue, reduce blood pressure and improve learning and memory ability, is rare and eye-catching. For this reason, theanine won the research department award at the international food raw materials conference held in Germany in 1998.