Green Tea Helps Fend Off Superbugs?

According to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting, green tea may amplify the effects of antibiotics, making them more effective against "superbugs".

Superbugs are bacteria that have evolved to become resistant to most antibiotics, and are therefore a major concern for healthcare practitioners.

Dr Mervat Kassem from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Alexandria University in Egypt, a lead researcher on the study, explained the results of their research, "In every single case, green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of the antibiotics. For example the killing effect of chloramphenicol was 99.99% better when taken with green tea than when taken on its own in some circumstances."

The mechanisms for green tea's ability to increase the efficacy of the antibiotics are unknown.

Green tea could be an excellent adjuvant to antibiotic treatment; not only is it inexpensive and safe in very large quantities, it is readily available - yet another reason piled onto the stack of reasons to drink green tea.