🚀 go-pugleaf

Doug,

Simple dumb question: Is rooibos tea something that is sold in stores? I 
never heard of it. 

I do like the CNS protection report though.

In <86ic5b$pu4$2@sylvester.vcn.bc.ca>, the exalted oberon@vcn.bc.ca Doug 
Skrecky opined:
> Subject: possible biostasis with rooibos tea?
> From: Doug Skrecky <oberon@vcn.bc.ca>
> Newsgroups: sci.life-extension, bionet.molbio.ageing
> 
> Citations: 1-2
> <1>
> Authors
>   Lamosova D.  Jurani M.  Greksak M.  Nakano M.  Vanekova M.
> Institution
>   Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
>   Ivanka pri Dunaji, Slovakia. LAMOSOVA@UBGZ.SAVBA.SK
> Title
>   Effect of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) on chick
>   skeletal muscle cell growth in culture.
> Source
>   Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology. Part C Pharmacology, Toxicology,
>   Endocrinology.  116(1):39-45, 1997 Jan.
> Abstract
>   Rooibos tea (RT) extract contains natural antioxidants and
>   scavenging agents. We investigated the effects of different concentrations of
>   RT extract in medium on growth and changes of growth parameters of cultured
>   chick embryonic skeletal muscle cells. Presence of 2, 10 and 100% of RT
>   extract in the culture of primary cells significantly inhibited cell
>   proliferation. The inhibition of cell growth reflected on decreased DNA, RNA
>   and protein contents in primary cell culture and fibroblasts and myoblasts.
>   The ability of the primary cells, fibroblasts and myoblasts to synthesize DNA
>   and protein in the presence of RT extract, measured as an amount of
>   [3H]thymidine and [3H]leucine incorporated into DNA and de novo synthesized
>   protein, corresponded with decreasing DNA and protein contents in all three
>   cell types. The inhibition effect of RT rose with increasing concentration of
>   the tea extract in the culture medium. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was
>   significantly affected only by 100% RT extract in every examined cell types.
>   These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of RT extract on the growth
>   of primary cells, fibroblasts and myoblasts is due to the potent scavenging
>   activity of the RT extract.
> 
> <2>
> Authors
>   Inanami O.  Asanuma T.  Inukai N.  Jin T.  Shimokawa S.  Kasai N.  Nakano M. 
>   Sato F.  Kuwabara M.
> Institution
>   Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Japan.
> Title
>   The suppression of age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in rat brain
>   by administration of Rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis).
> Source
>   Neuroscience Letters.  196(1-2):85-8, 1995 Aug 18.
> Abstract
>   The protective effects of Rooibos tea (RT), Aspalathus
>   linearis, against damage to the central nervous system (CNS) accompanying
>   aging were examined by both the thiobarbituric acid reaction (TBA) and
>   magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in brains of chronically RT-treated
>   rats. Ad libitum administration of RT was begun with 3-month-old Wistar
>   female rats and continued for 21 months. The contents of TBA reactive
>   substances (TBARS) in the frontal cortex, occipital cortex, hippocampus and
>   cerebellum in 24-month-old rats after administration with water were
>   significantly higher than those in young rats (5 weeks old). However, no
>   significant increase of TBARS was observed in RT-administered aged rats. When
>   MR images of the brains of 24-month-old rats with and without RT as well as
>   5-week-old rats were taken, a decrease of the signal intensity was observed
>   in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum in MR images of aged rats
>   without RT, whereas little change of the signal intensity was observed in MR
>   images of the same regions of 24-month-old rats treated with RT, whose images
>   were similar to those of young rats. These observations suggested that (1)
>   the age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in the brain was closely
>   related to the morphological changes observed by MRI, and (2) chronic
>   RT-administration prevented age-related accumulation of lipid peroxides in
>   several regions of rat brain.
> 
> 
>