Green Tea and Health Symposium was held in Kyoto on 15th April and the specific focus was on the green tea effect on the new corona virus. The symposium was organized and sponsored by Kyoto prefecture and the general population could join online through Zoom.
The symposium started with the presentation by the keynote speaker – Dr. Yamada, the director of the Health Support Center at Shizuoka Prefectural Public University, who presented findings from studies on green tea effect against influenza virus. That was followed by a panel discussion with researchers from Kyoto and other prefectures.
During the panel discussion professor Matsuda from Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine presented that catechins were found to inactivate the new corona virus, when the virus was submerged in green tea. His article, though, in the pre-publication stage and is currently being peer-reviewed. The panelists also admitted that clinical and epidemiological studies are necessary to determine the green tea effect in human bodies.
With that, Kyoto prefecture, immediately warned against claiming on tea labels that green tea is effective against the new corona virus as that would be against the law. It remains that more studies are needed, especially clinical and epidemiological. While we are waiting for more results, vaccines are already are being deployed to provide the needed shield against the virus.