I read that it is only green tea that has the high levels of catechins in it, and dosage is critical, as other have noted...a little helps, a lot makes things worse.

Here is a video of Dr. Mandel of the Technion Institute discussing green tea, she puts it pretty clearly (and SO much easier to understand than the article JoeM shared with us, whew-ee, that pretty much blew what little brain I have left! Incredibly informative though, I loved the detailed discussed of the authors' theory about neurodegeneration and the processes involved in same (including disruption of the BBB, Ron!)....we'll be sharing it with our doc next time we see him.). here' the video link:

http://www.ats.org/site/PageServer?p...out_parkinsons


I also think it is very interesting that the article listed by JoeM basically shows that PD is a process, which is why one pill is NOT going to fix things...there are many events all of which seem to work towards cell death, and my thinking is if we can address enough of the obstacles along the highway, maybe green tea for inflammation and chelation of the excess iron in the brain, coQ10 for helping the mitochondria, etc., eventually it will clear up. One thing Dr. Mandel said on the video that really perked up my ears was that the catechins in green tea can:

1. cross the BBB
2. enter the cells/neurons in the brain and
3. once there, they not only chelate out the excess iron and I believe copper as well, but also increase the expressions of the genes in the cells that code for survival. I got from her that green tea is actually neuro-restorative, let me know if I got that wrong.

So how many cups of green tea does one drink a day? Also, this is important, I also read that you will radically increase the absorption of the catechins in the green tea if you add a bit of citrus to it...think everyone here already knows this but I had forgotten.