Green tea, steeped in antioxidants, has long been dubbed a healthful drink. It may offer a spot of help against HIV too: In test tubes, a substance in green tea leaves—EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate)—blocks the virus from binding to CD4 cells, according to a Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology report. The antiviral effect may not work in the body, though, so tea bags aren’t replacing HIV meds yet. To see if the data will translate “from laboratory to bedside,” says study author Christina Nance, MD, of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, more research is brewing.
