After reading an interesting research report on rooibos tea, I looked for and failed to find any local supplier of this beverage. Eventually I obtained a supply from a company called H & H International Trading. If anyone else can not find this beverage locally, they can contact H & H at their web site at www.bostea.com.
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.