GREEN AND RED BOTH GOOD FOR YOU.....

Green rooibos tea has higher levels of antioxidants than traditional
rooibos, but recent studies are proving that both kinds of rooibos protect
against a range of diseases, and that drinking green rooibos is not necessarily
better.

“People should drink the kind of rooibos they enjoy most, since we now
know that rooibos with a higher-antioxidant content does not always provide the
best benefits,” recommends Prof Jeanine Marnewick, manager of the Oxidative
Stress Research Centre in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences at Cape
Peninsula University of Technology.

Professor Marnewick, who has been actively involved in rooibos research
over the last 15 years, explains that it is not only the level of antioxidants,
but also the specific combinations of bio-active compounds in rooibos that are
important.

“The health benefits from drinking rooibos tea will also be different
for every person – depending on your overall health status,” she adds.

Scientists are still busy unravelling the complex pathways whereby the
active compounds in rooibos can play a role in disease prevention, but several
studies done on skin, liver, heart and oesophagus models, researchers have
shown that traditional rooibos offers similar (and sometimes even better) health
properties compared to green rooibos.

Much like making wine, making a good quality rooibos tea is both a
science and an art. The characteristic colour and flavour of rooibos tea
develops when enzymes that occur naturally in the plant turn the shredded green
tea leaves reddish brown. This happens on the tea court while the moist tea is
slowly dried in the sun. When making green rooibos, this step is skipped and the
tea is dried as soon as possible in order to inactivate the enzymes in the
plant and retain the green colour in the dried leaves.

References:

[1] rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) offers cardiac protection against
ischaemia/reperfusion in the isolated perfused rat heart. W.G. Pantsi, J.L.
Marnewick, A.J. Esterhuyse, F. Rautenbach, J. van Rooyen. Phytomedicine 18
(2011) 1220 – 1228.

[2] Modulating Effects of rooibos and Honeybush Herbal Teas on the
Development of Esophageal Papillomas in Rats. Sissing, Linda , Marnewick,
Jeanine , de Kock, Maryna , Swanevelder, Sonja , Joubert, Elizabeth and
Gelderblom, Wentzel. Nutrition and Cancer, 63: 4, 600 — 610, 2 May 2011.

[3] Unfermented and fermented rooibos teas (Aspalathus linearis)
increase plasma total antioxidant capacity in healthy humans. Débora Villaño,
Monia Pecorari, Maria Francesca Testa, Anna Raguzzini, Angelique Stalmach, Alan
Crozier, Claudio Tubili, Mauro Serafini. Food Chemistry: 123 (2016)
679-683, 2010.

[4] Inhibition of tumour promotion in mouse skin by extracts of rooibos
(Aspalathus linearis) and honeybush (Cyclopia intermedia), unique South African
herbal teas. Jeanine Marnewick, Elizabeth Joubert, Shamiel Joseph, Sonja
Swanevelder, Pieter Swart, Wentzel Gelderblom. Cancer Letters 224;
193–202, 2005.

Climate change theatens rooibos

2012/02/27 Clanwilliam - Farm workers swing their sickles through red branches, bundling them up before laying them out in the sunshine to dry.

The annual harvest at Groenkol Rooibos tea estate, in the Western Cape helps quench the world's growing thirst for "red bush" tea, but farmers fear that climate change could destroy the delicate eco-system that their crop depends on.

Annual exports of rooibos have quadrupled in the last 13 years. The tea is popular for its perceived health benefits as well as its refreshing taste and has become a trendy drink in many countries. It contains no caffeine and just a tiny amount of tannin.

But rooibos tea only grows in this region - nowhere else in the world.

"Rooibos is endemic to this area, it grows wild here and only here," said Chris Du Plessis, who runs Elandsberg Eco Tourism.

"If you go up that hill and down the other side you'll find that 90% of the plants that grow there don't grow on the other side."

Weather extremes

Very few plants can survive in the dry, sandy terrain but rooibos bushes thrive in this area, living in symbiosis with micro-organisms in the soil. Farmers have tried to grow rooibos in Australia, the US, even China - each time they've failed.

Willem Engelbrecht inherited Groenkol Rooibos Tea Estate from his father. Since taking on the farm, he's noticed distinct changes in the weather.

"Over the last 10 years, there are more and more strange things happening," said Engelbrecht.

The area already endures extreme weather conditions. The temperature drops to freezing in the winter, and reaches 48°C in the summer.

Now, summers are hotter and winters, drier. As a result, Engelbrecht has had to adapt his farming techniques.

"In the past we used to plough the soil, these days we plough less and we keep material on the soil to act as isolation, basically to preserve the moisture."

But if temperatures continue to soar, farmers like Willem will find it difficult to cope, posing risks to the R600m rooibos industry.

Climate change experts warn that the Western Cape will be hit hard over the next 100 years.

Jobs

"A plausible scenario is a further three degree temperature increase over much of this region," said Francois Engelbrecht of South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

"At the same time, this region is projected to become generally drier. So the general picture that is painted for all of the Western interior and coastal regions of South Africa is indeed not a very positive one."

But those who depend on rooibos for their livelihood are trying to remain positive. The rooibos industry is booming, with the Cederberg area producing 12 000 tons of tea a year, half of which is sold for export. That's enough to make 4.8 billion cups of tea a year.

Tea production also provides an estimated 4 500 jobs to the area, with much of the harvesting and drying done by hand.

"Rooibos is now gaining ground in a lot of countries and is grown from a very small base, so I think business can grow exponentially," said Willem Engelbrecht.

The question for farmers like Engelbrecht, is how long this boom can last, before climate change kills off their crop.

Cape Natural Tea Team Building, Watergat Tulbacht - November  2011

On 14 November 2011 – World Diabetes Day – the world will focus on this silent, killer disease that is fast escalating into a global health epidemic. Obesity is directly associated with development of type 2 diabetes. .

“In healthy people, their cells take up and use glucose effectively and the process is controlled by the insulin hormone, but in diabetics these processes are impaired,” Louw explains. “We have obtained encouraging results for Rooibos extracts in our pre-clinical studies with diabetic animals, as well as in cell models, showing that compounds in Rooibos can play a role in these processes.”

“We plan to continue with follow-up work to look at Rooibos and obesity in animals and humans.”

A positive outcome of this research in humans could lead to nutraceutical applications of Rooibos extract which could have far-reaching health implications.

This research project is supported by the South African Rooibos Council (SARC), as part of a portfolio of independent research projects to clarify and understand the health properties of Rooibos tea. SARC will invest about R1 million over three years in this specific study.

*****

Notes for editors

• More than 300 million people have diabetes. If no effective intervention is found, this number is likely to more than double by 2030. Almost 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. (Source: World Health Organisation). World Diabetes Day is celebrated on 14 November to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, was instrumental in the discovery of insulin in 1922, a life-saving treatment for diabetes patients.
  



• South Africa’s focus on the potential of rooibos to manage diabetes builds on research in other countries: Slovak1 scientists have recommended Rooibos to help prevent and treat diabetic vascular complications, especially in eye membranes. Japanese2 scientists found that Rooibos, helps improve the glucose uptake of muscle cells, thereby maintaining normal blood sugar levels in diabetic mice, and also that it stimulates pancreatic beta-cells to secret insulin.
  



• Summaries of the most recent rooibos studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals can be found on www.sarooibos.co.za
  

Issued by: Meropa, Cape Town
Enquiries: Stephen Forbes; Tel: 021-683 6464
Email: stephenf@meropa.co.za

We recently participated in the International Hong Kong Tea Show during August, taking Rooibos to Asia

In Celebration of Melson Mandela's birthday , the staff at CNPT each gave 67 minutes of time. To make a change, sandwiches were prepared and delived to the local Bloekombos Primary School - a small chagned and many filled tummies.