| Popis: |
PurposeSeveral lines of emerging pharmacological and epidemiological evidence imply that overall risks related to COVID-19 may be reduced by green tea catechins. Therefore, it may be expected that countries with higher per/capita green tea consumption would be less affected by COVID-19. The aim of this study was to assess this possibility.MethodsAmong countries with at least 3 million population (n=134), countries with relatively high (above 150 g) per/capita green tea consumption have been identified (n=21); (ii) normalized to population values of COVID-19 cases (morbidity) and deaths (mortality) for groups of countries with high and low per/capita green tea consumption were compared.ResultsStriking differences in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality between groups of countries with ‘high’ and ‘low’ green tea consumption were found. The differences were still observed after the adjustment for the onset of the disease. An analysis using multiple linear regression approach suggests that the associations are present at the level of individual countries.ConclusionEvidence supporting the idea that green tea constituents could reduce overall risks related to COVID-19 has been obtained. The results are promising and are in line with emerging evidence from other studies including pharmacological ones. Nevertheless, because of limitations of this study the idea still should be considered as a hypothesis requiring further assessment. Several vaccines are currently validated for COVID-19 prevention and mass vaccination has already been started in many countries. Still, it is likely that the development of an efficient drug therapy that reduces COVID-19 severity/mortality would be important for rather prolonged time. In this context, the results obtained in this study may have significant implications. |
