"preservative" news and stories

We've heard a lot in the last few years about the health benefits of green tea. It can help with everything from weight loss to cancer prevention. But could the polyphenols in green tea be the next miracle substance?

Researchers in India have been looking into new uses for green tea extracts (GTE), and have come out with a cool new use for them. The researchers found that the extracts can act as a preservative on meat in a room temperature setting. They say that the meat will last four days longer than if left untreated by GTE.

This discovery has major ramifications for undeveloped countries where refrigeration is still scarce. This means that they will have that much more time to sell their goods before things start to spoil, and consumers have that much more time to use the meat. I think that natural preservatives could (and should) be the way of the future. The whole world drinks green tea: what could be more natural than that?

Back in September, I did a post about how research was being done on the medical applications of sodium nitrite—yeah, the hot dog preservative. Along with previous uses for treating sickle-cell anemia, heart attacks and brain aneurysms, a new study published in the February edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that the preservative might prove useful in treating cystic fibrosis. Sufferers of the disease are prone to build-ups of mucus in their lungs. The bacteria that grows in this mucus and eventually damages the airways has a weakness to sodium nitrite. In a recent article, one researcher regarded the oft-maligned preservative as the "Achilles' heel" of the bacteria laden mucus. Of course, more research is needed before the treatment can be widely applied to cystic fibrosis sufferers.