---
category:
    - covid-19
    - japan
    - tea
date: '2020-12-08 09:46:35'
draft: false
pleromaurl: 'https://social.nipponalba.scot/notice/A1zHLNLIYWGnBI6xoe'
posttype: note
sensitive: 'true'
slug: 5fcf4b7b
visibility: public
title: note
---
My mother-in-law shared this link on the family LINE chat (日本語):

https://www.sankei.com/west/news/201127/wst2011270045-n1.html

The gist: Some experiments were carried out at Nara prefectural medical university (probably not the correct name in English) in which over-the-counter bottled tea were introduced to laboratory samples of covid-19.  

After 1 minute 99% of viral activity was ceased and after 10 minutes 99.9% though effectiveness apparently varied between tea type, black tea being the most effective.

This hasn't yet been tested in humans, however the professor mentioned in the article (Yano, I think), states that the catechins* within tea are already known to be effective in slowing (?) the flu virus and as such are expected to be somewhat effective against covid-19.

* Catechins are "a type of natural phenol and antioxidant" (wikipedia)

I've no idea whether or not this is effective, or whether the introduction of cow juice impacts any apparent effectiveness but I found it interesting nonetheless.

My in-laws are tea farmers.