CAS 3081-61-6 Amino Acid Supplement Pure Green Tea L Theanine Powder

Product Description

Product Introduction of L-Theanine

Theanine, first isolated from green tea in 1950, is a characteristic amino acid of tea and one of the flavouring substances of tea, which has a strong positive correlation with the quality of green tea, with a correlation coefficient of 0.787 to 0.876. It has been found that theanine has not been found in other plants, except for the presence of trace amounts in plants such as tea plum, mushrooms and oil tea.

Very soluble in water, insoluble in organic solvents such as ethanol and ether, slightly acidic in aqueous solution, with a caramel aroma and a fresh taste similar to MSG.

Function of L-Theanine

1. Hypotensive effects

Blood pressure is mainly regulated by an increase or decrease in catecholamines and 5-hydroxytryptamine in the central and peripheral nervous system, and Yokogoshi et al. demonstrated that the administration of theanine to rats reduced 5-hydroxytryptamine levels, reduced its synthesis in the brain and increased its breakdown in the brain. When different doses of theanine were administered to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), blood pressure decreased in a dose-dependent manner, with a significant decrease observed in the high dose group; however, even the highest dose of theanine did not alter blood pressure in normal rats; while glutamate, which is structurally similar to theanine, was not found to have a blood pressure lowering effect.

2. Adjuvant tumour suppression

Recent studies have shown that theanine, while having no anti-tumour activity of its own, can improve the efficacy of a number of anti-tumour drugs. Adriamycin (adriamycm) has an inhibitory effect on some tumours, and theanine protects the concentration of adriamycin in tumour tissue and reduces the leakage of adriamycin from Ehrlich ascites tumour cells, so that when theanine is used in combination with adriamycin, in vivo tumour growth inhibition is increased by 2.1 times and the concentration of adriamycin in tumour tissue is increased by 2.9 times. In addition, the injectable anticancer drug idarubicin reduced leukocyte and bone marrow cell counts, but when combined with theanine, it alleviated this toxicity of idarubicin and promoted the antitumour effects of idarubicin, suggesting that theanine has a selective modulating effect on the toxicity caused by idarubicin. The anticancer drug doxorubicin, when combined with theanine, inhibited the metastasis of M5076 ovarian sarcoma to the liver. Recently, Sa-dzuka et al. further investigated the pathway by which theanine enhances the anticancer activity of adriamycin, indicating that theanine increases the concentration of adriamycin in tumour cells by inhibiting glutamate transport in tumour cells, thus achieving an increase in its anticancer efficacy. Theanine is beneficial in clinical chemotherapy for cancer patients, as it not only promotes the action of certain antitumour drugs, but also improves the quality of life of cancer patients.

3. Protective effect on brain nerve cells

Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is present in nerve cells at a level of 1mmol-10mmol/L. When brain ischaemia occurs, the intracellular energy source adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production decreases due to the interruption of O2 supply and is gradually depleted, the nerve cell membrane separates and excessive glutamate is released outside the cell and acts on the receptors, causing a continuous increase in intracellular calcium ion concentration and stimulating the activity of various catabolic enzymes. This causes a continuous increase in intracellular calcium ion concentration, stimulates the activity of various catabolic enzymes and finally acts on the cell to destroy and kill it. Theanine has a competitive protective effect on the glutamate receptors and therefore protects the brain tissue from ischaemia-induced brain nerve cell death.

Application of L-Theanine

1. Tea beverage quality improver

At present, due to the limitations of raw materials and processing technology, the fresh taste of tea beverages in China is poor, while theanine is the main component of the fresh taste of tea, and can moderate the bitter taste of tea polyphenol bitter taste, therefore, adding a certain amount of theanine in the production process of tea beverages, can significantly improve the quality and flavour of tea beverages. A typical example is the newly developed "raw tea" drink by Kirin Japan, which has been added with theanine and has been a great success in the Japanese beverage market.

2. Functional Food Additive

Theanine has been proven in human trials to enhance the intensity of alpha waves in the brain, create a sense of relaxation and improve memory. Therefore, it can be added to food as a functional ingredient to develop foods with nerve tension relief and educational functions. For example, black tea concentrated extract (Bx=20) 5%, filling sugar (Bx=7.5) 5%, granulated sugar 15%, gelling agent 1%, theanine 0.2%, citric acid 0.2%, sodium citrate 0.2%, add water to 100% to make black tea jelly. Brain waves were measured after 60 min of consumption, every 5 min, and it was found that the amount of alpha wave appearance increased immediately after consumption, with a significant increase of up to 1.6 times after 30 min. Research has also confirmed that theanine can be added to sweets and various beverages to obtain a good sedative effect. Research and development work in this area is actively being carried out in Japan.

3. Theanine flavour modification effect

Theanine can be used not only as a flavour modifier for green tea, but also to suppress bitterness and astringency in other foods to improve their flavour. Cocoa beverages and wheat teas have a distinctive bitter or astringent taste, and adding sweeteners can have an unpleasant taste. If 0.01% theanine is used as a sweetener substitute, the results show that the flavour of the beverage is greatly improved by adding theanine. The study also confirmed that the addition of theanine to other foods (coffee, cocoa, ginseng drinks, beer) also had a good effect on flavour, indicating that theanine has a promising application in the food industry.